14 DAY TRIAL // Sell and lease-back maneuvers consist of a company selling an area it owns but continuing to use the facilities and everything else on the grounds afterwards.
This way, a company can raise some money very quickly without having to disrupt its business too much.
In this case, AMD has sold its “Lone Star Campus” in Austin, Texas, to Southwest Parkway Holdings, an affiliate entity of real estate investment company Spear Street Capital.
Once the deal closes, AMD will enter a 12-year lease. After those 12 years have passed, it will have the option of keeping up operations on the campus.
Leasing seems to be a favorite practice of the company. For example, the headquarters in Sunnyvale, California are currently in lease (they were sold back in 1998). Also, in 2008, it sold its major site in Markham, Ontario, Canada, under a similar lease agreement.