NEW YORK - The law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to have served as legal counsel to Newkirk Realty Trust, a NYSE listed real estate investment trust (REIT), in its recent definitive merger agreement with Lexington Corporate Properties Trust. Newkirk is engaged through its operating partnership, The Newkirk Master Limited Partnership, in the ownership of a diversified portfolio of single-tenant net-leased properties. The merger, which must be approved by the shareholders of each company, is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter of 2006 and would create Lexington Realty Trust, a $4.6 billion REIT.

"We are pleased to have assisted Newkirk in this landmark deal and are excited to have played a role in what would be one of the nation’s largest publicly traded, single tenant-focused REITs," said Mark I. Fisher, lead counsel for Newkirk and a New York-based partner in Katten’s Corporate Practice. Additional members of the Firm’s legal team that were involved in the transaction included partners Elliot Press and Jill E. Darrow, and associate Michael H. Williams, all of the New York office.

Under the merger agreement, each share of Newkirk common stock would be exchanged for 0.80 common shares of Lexington. Following the merger, Newkirk shareholders would own approximately 46.8 percent of the combined company, with Lexington shareholders owning the remaining 53.2 percent.

Katten’s corporate practice encompasses mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, public and private debt and equity offerings, public company representation, REIT formation, institutional lending, securitizations, leveraged leasing, structured finance, start-up and venture capital financing, leveraged buy-outs, joint ventures and other strategic alliances, real estate finance, partnership tender offers and roll-ups and proxy contests.

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (www.katten.com) is a national, full-service law firm with offices in the nation's largest centers of business, government, finance and technology and an associated entity in London. The Firm’s 600 attorneys in more than 40 practice areas provide timely and cost-effective counsel to clients in numerous industries. They serve as business advisors and advocates for a wide range of public and private companies - from entrepreneurial, emerging-growth, and middle market firms to global Fortune 100 corporations - as well as government entities, non-profits, and charitable and cultural organizations.