Klehr Harrison Represents ShopKo Stores, Inc. in Largest Retail Sale-Leaseback in History

As reported in a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal on May 10, 2006, Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg acted as real estate counsel to ShopKo Stores, Inc. in the sale-leaseback of 178 of ShopKo Stores, Inc.’s properties to Spirit Finance Corp. The $815.3 million deal is the largest retail sale-leaseback in U.S. history.

ShopKo Stores, Inc. operates two retail department store chains: ShopKo and Pamida. The ShopKo division has 135 big-box stores consisting of approximately 90,000 square feet on average in 13 states, located in mid-sized to larger cities in the Midwest and three neighborhood drug stores. The Pamida division has 216 stores consisting of approximately 30,000 square feet on average located in 16 states in more rural areas in the Midwest.

An affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., a private equity firm based in Boca Raton, Florida, bought ShopKo Stores, Inc. in December 2005.

Klehr Harrison attorneys who worked on the deal were Real Estate Department Chair Bradley Krouse, Heather Levine, and Matthew Werthman.