William R. Klapp Jr. — Partner at Alston & Bird

Mr. William R. Klapp is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP. Mr. Klapp is a member of the Capital Markets and Investments Group, based in the Research Triangle Office. Mr. Klapp concentrates his practice on structured investment and finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions and other commercial transactions, with an emphasis on the real estate industry. Most of his time is spent working with real estate investment trusts (REITs) and institutional investors (including life insurance companies, financial institutions and pension funds), for whom he structures joint ventures, debt securitizations and sale/leaseback transactions. He also assists real estate investment trusts in portfolio acquisitions and dispositions and in the creation of programs which facilitate new development through the use of I.R.C. ??1031 tax-deferred exchanges. Mr. Klapp has assisted an important REIT client in the creation of a $55 million development credit facility designed to be used in connection with tax-deferred exchanges. Previously, Mr. Klapp structured and closed a $500 million series of leveraged joint ventures involving in-service assets and development projects, between affiliates of Highwoods Properties, Inc. and a joint venture between a major Western real estate developer and various pension funds. He also structured $142 million and $110 million leveraged joint ventures between affiliates of Highwoods and a German investment fund. In recent years, Mr. Klapp has assisted clients in the acquisition, disposition and financing of nearly $2 billion of commercial real property. He also assisted Highwoods Properties, Inc. in its $570 million merger with J.C. Nichols Company, and for ten years prior to that time, served as primary counsel for the equity real estate investment arm of one of the largest domestic life insurance companies in its acquisition, disposition and development joint venture activities. In recent years, Mr. Klapp has published articles on federal tax implications of real estate partnerships, real estate development joint ventures and special due diligence concerns in acquisitions by real estate investment trusts. He has also lectured on a variety of subjects, including real estate investment trusts and securitization and other structured financing techniques, as well as conventional topics of interest to the real estate industry generally. Mr. Klapp is active in the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and the Association of Foreign Investors in U.S. Real Estate (AFIRE). Mr. Klapp received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law in 1985, a Master of Fine Arts from Florida State University in 1977 and a B.A. from Virginia Tech in 1972. Mr. Klapp is admitted to practice in North Carolina, Georgia, and New York.