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Simon Property Group Inc (SPG -0.26%)
Q3Â 2019 Earnings Call
Oct 30, 2019, 8:30 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Third Quarter 2019 Simon Property Group, Incorporated, Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Tom Ward, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Tom Ward -- Investor Relations
Thank you, Sidney. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Presenting on today's call is, David Simon, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. Also on the call are Rick Sokolov, Vice Chairman; Brian McDade, Chief Financial Officer; and Adam Reuille, Chief Accounting Officer.
Before we begin, a quick reminder that statements made during this call may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and actual results may differ materially due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors. We refer you to today's press release and our SEC filings for a detailed discussion of the risk factors relating to those forward-looking statements.
Please note that this call includes information that maybe accurate only as of today's date. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included within the press release and the supplemental information in today's Form 8-K filing. Both the press release and the supplemental information are available on our IR website at investors.simon.com.
For our prepared remarks. I'm pleased to introduce, David Simon.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
All right, good morning. We had a very busy and productive quarter and very pleased with our financial results. Our results of the quarter were highlighted by funds from operation of $1.081 billion or $3.05 per share. We achieved this consensus this quarter even with certain unanticipated retailer bankruptcies, reduced property level NOI from the acceleration of properties undergoing significant redevelopment such as Northgate compared to our budget. Reduced overage rent from tourism spending including the negative impact from the continued strong US dollar and lower distribution income from certain international investments. We continue to grow our cash flow and report solid key operating metrics.
Comp NOI increased 1.6% for the third quarter and total portfolio increased 1.3% for the quarter. Portfolio NOI was negatively impacted by 50 basis points due to properties undergoing significant redevelopment and the unfavorable FX impact, due to the continuing strong dollar. Year to date comp NOI has increased has 1.7%. Retail bankruptcies negatively impacted our comp NOI by over 100 basis points in the third quarter. As a reminder, our Japan premium outlets and designer outlets in Europe produce over $1,000 in retail sales per square foot and all of our 26 international outlets, excluding Canada, which is in our basically North American portfolio, generated comp NOI growth of 6.3% on a constant currency basis, which as a reminder is not included in our comp NOI and if you did that we'd be well over 2%.
Our retail sales momentum accelerated in the third quarter, reported retail sales per square foot for malls and outlets was $680 compared to $650 per foot an increase of 4.5%. Leasing activity remains solid, average base minimum rent was $54.55. The malls and Premium Outlets recorded leasing spreads of $12.10, an increase of 22.2%. Our malls and outlets occupancy ended the quarter 94.7%, an increase of 30 basis points compared to the occupancy at the end of the second quarter and again tenant bankruptcies affected that by roughly 60 basis points on an NOI weighted basis, excluding our international outlets, which I discussed above we reported were as follows.
Reported retailer sales on an NOI weighted basis is $867 compared to $680 per foot. NOI weighted sales growth was 6.1%, year-over-year compared to 4.5%. As mentioned, occupancy is 95.8% compared to 94%. Average base minimum rent is $73.14 compared to the $54.55 number. And our weighted comp NOI growth would be 2.7%. We started construction on new Premium Outlet in Tulsa, Oklahoma, scheduled to open in the spring of 2021. Construction continues on four other new international outlet developments Malaga, Spain, Bangkok, Thailand, West Midlands, England and not to forget norm of these France, which we expect to be a terrific new outlet center.
We had a very busy quarter in terms of completion of redevelopment projects in particular expansions on several of our high performing international outlets. We opened -- including two in South Korea and one in Vancouver out at our Vancouver designer outlet in Canada. During the quarter we started construction on our significant redevelopment at Tacoma mall. At the end of the third quarter we have 30 properties across all of our platforms in the US and internationally with the share of the net cost of approximately $1.4 billion. And as a reminder, this is being funded by our internally generated cash flow.
We announced and as you are aware, we closed on our new venture with the Gilles Group to combine our shop Premium Outlets marketplace with RGG highly successful rule of law and guilt creating a new multi-platform dedicated to digital value shopping. We're very excited to expand our omni channel capabilities and partnership with RGG which is a very profitable company with significant sales. Our industry-leading capabilities in the physical outlet space, combined with the RGGs exceptional e-commerce success will give shoppers and enhance access to the world's best brands in most compelling deals both online and in store.
You saw the announcement this week regarding strategic investments. I won't belabor that other than we're very excited about the transactions that we're investing in Life Time, Fitness Pin Stripes, SOHO Parm, Sports Illustrated, Allied esports. You can now for those of you that really like gaming, please enter the Simon cup. We encourage you to do so. You'll have a lot of fun, but I will not be funding the analyst, it's in fact one of you win.
Look for us to open Sports Illustrated esports gaming restaurants in the future. So now balance sheet. We completed three tranche senior notes totaling $3.5 billion at a coupon rate of 2.61% average weighted terms 15.9 years. Our offering Mark industry milestones prior to know prior to our issuance, no real estate company issued $1.25 billion of 30-year bonds in a single issuance and the interest rate for each of the tranches was the lowest achieved by any real estate company for similar notes. In October completed our for early redemptions of our senior notes totaling $2.6 billion and during the quarter, we repurchased $1.15 million shares after the bond redemptions, our liquidity stands at $7 billion, balance sheet's in great shape.
We announced a dividend of $2.10 per share; a 5% increase year-over-year will pay $8.30 per share in dividends in 2019. That's an increase of 5.1% compared to all of last year. We've grown the dividend more than 8% over the last few years. And as a reminder or annualized dividend yield is greater than 5%, which is more than 350 basis points higher than the 10-year treasury, which is at basically at a record spread. We're more than 1.5 times covered in terms of our dividend coverage by our FFO and we paid out since we've been public now, well over $30 billion a lot of though.
Now just to updates finally guidance is $12 to $12.05 which is an increase of $0.03 from the bottom end of the range. After giving effect to the $0.33 debt extinguishment charge as we outlined for you when we did our notes deal month or so ago.
So that's it, we're ready for questions.
Question-and-Answer Session
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Craig Schmidt with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
Craig Schmidt -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Okay, great. Thank you. I just wanted to touch a little bit. I mean, you've been very active in terms of developing your experience in tenants for your assets. And I just wondered how high could you be taking this penetration in the next, say two or three years?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, I would say to you the level of interest and new retailers in this category continues to amaze us. They actually are very interested in our real estate. So despite the negative narrative that you see from the general media, they all want to locate in the mall. And in our real estate and I think we're just at the beginning of that so I continue to expect us to redevelop our assets with those kind of retailers significantly over the next decade.
Craig Schmidt -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Yeah. I was just thinking about the Southdale where you replacing a appendix with the lifetime assets. What kind of lift could that give to that center?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Significant. I mean, they will have 5,000 members. They're great for the community, they are without question the best operator of a lifetime resort in that whole industry. They blow everybody away, they're great partners, good friends and we expect continued growth there. They reinforce our real estate as a place for the community. And I couldn't be prouder working with them side by side into this partnership. They also have a world-class shareholder base. So you know that's as we create kind of the next generation of our company. We're associating ourselves with world-class entrepreneurs, partners, investors. You know, we could sit here and talk about selling an outlet for $1 million, but I encourage you to think about our company differently.
Craig Schmidt -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Okay. And then, just lastly; I know we've touched on this that you are seeing the human resources and permits are probably more of a generator, then your access to capital. But are you think you might have to accelerate some your capital spend in the next few years, just given the redevs and development you're doing. And you seem to continue to be on pace for whether it's the new developments and in the European outlets etc?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I think it's going to be relatively within you know margin of error relatively consistent with what we've been doing the last couple of years, Craig. So we're spending the $1 billion to $1.5 per billion year, that's not going to jump up to $2.5 billion just because of some of the constraints that we have not financially but just execution. So I would expect us to continue to be in that range over the next few years.
Craig Schmidt -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Okay . I appreciate it, thanks.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Christy McElroy with Citi. Please proceed with your question.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
Hey, it's Michael Bilerman here with Christy. David [Phonetic] picked up our gold cards. So I don't think we're going to win markets probably has a better chance of doing that than we do?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Again, I would get one of your kids to enter it and then they may have a better shot the new, Michael.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
Okay, exactly. If you think about all these investments that you're making in a lot of the consumer-facing brands and you talked a little bit about, you went through the list on the call. As reported in the press of the Soho House one was about $100 million. How should we think about the totality of capital that you have out today, across all of these different investments. If you look at the balance sheet, I'm not sure if it's in the other asset category. But if it is that totality has gone from $1.2 billion, up to $1.8 over the course of the nine month. So can you give us a little bit of a sense of the total money that you've put out across all of these different exciting adventures?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. First of all, just to clarify the increase in the other assets is basically because writing up the leases to value. I mean that's the biggest because of the new accounting rules. That's the biggest change. Okay, so you can't go from that number to what we've invested by any stretch of imagination. So that's number one. Number two is to the extent that we reach materiality. We're obviously going to have to disclose that in our financial statements in our Q and our K. So the other assets is just so you know is basically the increase in those -- for what. And it's, driving up and that's $525 million roughly when you have to write up your leases to market with the new accounting rules. Okay.
So we have not reached the, I would say it this way, we certainly have not reached our investment, our outside investments to the level of materiality. That's the first point. Second is I look at it, our embedded, and we basically reinvesting our embedded gains that we have in Aero in ABG and some of the other Venture Group investments into some of these things. So right now we're playing with the houses money and it's not material. I don't think the Soho House number is right. So, just I'm not going to go through each one at each level, again I encourage everybody try to think about us a little bit differently, but what we're doing is we're making these investments to learn. So that we're going to be number one a better company.
Two is creating investments with great partners, with great entrepreneurs, with great shareholders, I think is going to exponentially increase our opportunities both in our physical and ultimately in the online world. And the level of activity that we are seeing it's just very encouraging is all I can tell you, I mean I think where we're at the epicenter of kind of physical online world, Entertainment creating kind of the next generation destination center and it's, we're all trying to put it together, but we're not. At this point simple thing to think about is make sure you understand, you know that on the deferred assets. Number one.
Number two is make sure you understand we're not at the materiality level. And number three is, it's basically we're rolling the embedded gains. The way I think about it as our role in the embedded gains in our future investments. But we're also making these not as a learning experience because who cares about learning. We're doing it to make money and I expect all of these to pay off in the future.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
David, you've obviously been critical to the Company's success for well over 25 years. You signed your last retention employment agreement back in 2011 that expired back in July. Where do things stand in terms of? Are you going without an employment agreement, at this point? Or is that still being worked on.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I have no employment agreement.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
So you will just be an employee it will with everybody else.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
That's the way it's shaping up. Yes, that's the answer.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
Christy has a question too.
Christy McElroy -- Citi -- Analyst
Hey David, good morning. You mentioned 100 basis point impact, I think to comp NOI from bankruptcies in Q3. Just to try to get a sense for the impacts that have already been incurred in Q3 versus what could be incremental in Q4. Just with regard to the Forever 21 bankruptcy filing. Was there any reserve and the revenue line and impact to same-store for nonpayment of pre-petition rent. And have you seen any impact thus far from Barneys or Kitchen Collection at this point?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Not at this point. I mean, we don't really go through each and every retailer. I don't think it's fair given the size of our company for us to talk about specific retailers. I want to differ on that. But the reality is we have these we've updated our guidance, we've narrowed the range and all of that kind of embedded in that. So you know, I think the important point is, a number of these were unanticipated from our budget, we told you what our budget was at the beginning of the year. We don't update our comp NOI as you know. And we would have well outperformed it. We still, you know, the biggest variable, we've got right now is still the overage rent in our tourist centers. And we'll see how the fourth quarter shakes out to me that's the bigger variable than anything else, but all of kind of all of the noise that is out there from certain retailers is kind of embedded in our guidance for the year.
Christy McElroy -- Citi -- Analyst
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Steve Sakwa with Evercore ISI. Please proceed with your question.
Steve Sakwa -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Thanks, good morning. I guess, David, maybe you or Rick could just talk about sort of the leasing pipeline in the momentum. And as you think about 2020 and kind of where you sit in terms of leasing for next year? And just a tenant demand. How would you sort of describe the environment today versus say a year ago? And how do you sort of feel like you're shaping up on 2020 aspirations?
Analyst
Thanks, good morning. I guess, David, maybe you or Rick (ph) could just talk about sort of the leasing pipeline in the momentum. And as you think about 2020 and kind of where you sit in terms of leasing for next year. And just a tenant demand. How would you sort of describe the environment today versus say a year ago. And how do you sort of feel like you're shaping up on 2020 aspirations?
Rick Sokolov -- Vice Chairman
Hi Steve, it's Rick. In fact the David and I have just logged through 12-hour days going property by property. And frankly, the environment is still strong. There are a lot of tenants that want to access our properties across all three platforms. We are doing a whole lot of leasing so far this year. We've got almost 10.5 million square feet. You see our rents are up. Our spreads are up. And in a lot of instances spaces that we're getting back, we're putting in more productive tenants at higher rents.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Okay. I would just say look next year, I think will know, we obviously it does take time. We did, we are having a high bankruptcy year. I mean there is no denying that, I mean it were. So, but as we put together our plan for next year, I think will be, I think we'll be OK. And you know we're hustling we're finding new tenants. The biggest setback that that I see for next year is not so much replacing the bankruptcies but really gaining our redevelopment type open and we have taken a step back this year. A reasonable level of cash flow forgets whether it's comp or whatever, however you want to describe it. But we've taken a reasonable step back this year because of taking down properties to redevelop. And we are never a company that does -- I've seen so many companies throw away the year and say, you know we'll get back to 21. We'll get back in 22. We do not do that. So the reality is we're going to come in with comp NOI that's going to be not so bad. It's a little variable as I described repeatedly with our the tourism slowdown, which we pointed out 3, 6 months ago, and now you see it across the board for both retailers and companies that are have exposure to tourism in the strong dollar. But we are still going to deliver comp NOI growth, it's not going to be that you know is one of my heroes would say not too shabby.
Next year, we've got a lot of you know, we don't give guidance until as you know, ended January. I think it will be fine. Even with even with the bankruptcies that we've got to lease up and the fact that we're still in a massive redevelopment number. You know and that stuff, the redevelopment take time, and we are in that business. We're not in that you know but we don't have throw away years. Steve, you know that about us.
Steve Sakwa -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
No, I would appreciate that. I guess, again not I guess trying to delve a little bit onto the redevelopment and just thinking about sort of next year and some of the headwinds you to taken down Northgate this year. I mean do you sort of think about I guess those types of projects that have negatively impacted. Do you expect those to continue, number one. And then as you just sort of think about the list of bankruptcies this year and you sort of think about possibilities for next year. Does the list of potential bankruptcies next year look a lot smaller than maybe it did a year ago?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
No, I think, listen, I think we're flushing through most of the dudes. Okay. So I actually think now, who knows, I mean but I think we're kind of reach in bottom and 18 on that stuff or 19 on that stuff. Its rivaling what happen in '17. So it's not like something that we haven't experienced before, but we know what we have to do. And again I don't want to get ahead of our guidance, but I don't think, you're not going to see a dramatic, oh my god from us. Okay, when we present our plan.
Steve Sakwa -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Okay, thanks.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Caitlin Burrows with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.
Caitlin Burrows -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Hi, good morning. Your third quarter same-store NOI growth of 1.6% seems like it's the best in the mall sector. So I was just wondering if you guys could go through any thoughts you have on how you're able to differentiate yourself is scale helping the mix of property types or something else?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, I mean I think it's not. If you look over a long period of time, I mean, I think we've done that for a number of years. So I don't really. I don't know, I mean it's a function. We have good people, good assets with diversified not tied in one particular regional place. And again I just want to know the fact of the matters that we put in our international business, which we really don't have. We thought we're thinking about it, but we don't want to confuse people. So, I mean we'd be well over 2% comp NOI growth. And don't forget about our international business, its 26 assets again exclude Canada because we have put Canada in our premium outlet business from the get-go. So I don't know I just, you know, it's, we're focused on the business and running the day to day, the best that we can. So I don't really want to compare contrast. But I think it's not, it's not, this isn't like a first quarter, this isn't the first time we've done that, I guess is what I want to say, right Rick?
Rick Sokolov -- Vice Chairman
Exactly. Listen, we grind every nickel everybody pays attention to every aspect of our business. On the income side and the expense side, and we've been doing it for a very long time, very consistently and we intend to continue to do it.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I can give you here is the culture. So we go through every asset while we're planning, we were here till 9 o'clock last night. We're not sitting here, planning, how we're going to communicate. Maybe we should because sometimes we garble the message. While all the time, maybe. So we've been in the last two days going through, this is we're going through our mall portfolio today than next week we go through the international business and each category have offered Bilerman to come here and see it. But Ward telling me not to do that again. But the reality is we are doing that nine. We did it all day Monday to nine. We do it all day today, we're right after this call. We're doing it. There is no downtime. We're not planning how to communicate what we're doing, we're just doing and that's the culture.
Caitlin Burrows -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Got it, OK. And then I was wondering maybe if you guys could talk about the new outlet in Oklahoma that you're working on just what pre-leasing has been like and what other retail options kind of are in the area?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We have a very good mall, there. It is the, I mean that's not to dwell too much on demographics, but it's the largest trade area without an outlet center. And we've been working on it for a while and based on our success in Denver and tenant demand. You know, we feel extremely confident we're going to be able to deliver it for a good return in a very good market. I mean Tulsa is a very good market with good income demographics and you know, I think it's kind of a, it's really our bread and butter. We don't honestly if we have to pre-lease, we're not the kind of company we need to be. So we don't really pre-lease so to speak, but we're very confident then that we'll be able to deliver the product that we want to deliver.
Okay, thanks.
Yeah.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Jeremy Metz with BMO Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Jeremy Metz -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
Hey, good morning. David just wanted to go back to Michael's question a little bit on the Simon Ventures and some of these other investments you made. And just hoping you can expand upon your last comment, but in response to his just in terms of. How do you really think about and measure returns for some of these just given some of the clear tangential benefit. So you're obviously looking to pull from doing these.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, just to be clear. We expect these returns to be similar to what private equity type returns and they must stand on their own, but we're making them because we think there is potential to do business with that partner. So there are two separate decisions. One is, for instance in lifetime it's very simple, we looked at a multiple of EBITDA. We looked at their growth. We looked at their future. And we're very confident that we're going to get a multiple of our invested capital. And all by the way, there are wonderful partners and we're going do arm's length business with them going forward. And to me that is a perfect scenario of a win-win.
So the investments must stand on their own. They must be and we look at them through a private equity lens much like everything else we've done. At the same time, if we can do business with them on an arm's length basis that's the gravy. And that's basically how we look at it and again. And we expect that we, by the way we've. Yeah, we've had some write-offs in our venture group which is a little. That venture groups, a little more at the early days of investing. Not in a round not kind of either BC round, BC or even DRAM, but the ones that I announced here this week are ones that are basically well established company. So this is in many cases growth capital or just solidifying our relationship and we think it's a good investment. And again these aren't at the point of materiality. Again I want everybody to put the size of our company in perspective, but we are going to make money on those investments, number one. Number two is, we're going to learn a lot because a number of these companies are leaders are in their industry, and we're not too old. Rick and I were close. But we're not too old to learn. And I mean not to diverge and we were up at the RGG Board meeting last Thursday or Friday. I can't remember, but I mean the amount that we are going to learn and in addition to the opportunities that we had as a partnership going forward, but the amount. We're going to be a better real estate operator. And this is what I need everyone to try and appreciate. We are going to be a better real estate operator, the more we know e-commerce. Okay. In the more we know how they integrate. And have been partners with one of the best entrepreneurs frankly ever in the e-commerce space. One of the early pioneers and that team, I mean just separates; I think ultimately what we're going to be able to do.
And again I can't say it's going to mean, and it's a profitable company and they do you know several hundred million dollars of sales. And all this other stuff but, and we wouldn't have done it. Had we not well like the company was worth it. But the reality is we're going to, and it's going to accelerate our marketplace efforts and we're going to be better in the real estate. We're going to make money in that investment, but we are also going to be better, real estate operators because of that investment. And we're going to know our retailers better and we do already, but this is going to take us to another hopefully to another level. And that's technology and how you integrated with the physical properties and all. And with our retailers, I think it's going to be very, very interesting to see how it all evolves.
Jeremy Metz -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
Okay. Great, thank you for that. And just a follow up I have is just on the densification projects. You remove the disclosure from the sub but regardless, you obviously have a number of projects going on that are going to deliver here and have been 2019 but really next year and beyond. I just wondering if you could talk about the pipeline, what's the total dollars at a gross cost basis today that have under way. And I guess what's beyond, what was last disclosed I guess last quarter. How much additional opportunities are you working on currently given some of the other need here for capital and it's a bit of a different skill sets, I'm assuming there is a human capacity to how much you can really have going on at any one point along these will that.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Don't read anything into the fact that we took that out. So here's why we took it out and we can put it back in. Number one, if you are under construction, and we have approved it's in our detail, its i.e. it's already in the detail. That's number one. Number two is, we are also outlining other stuff that's being done on the peripheral of our properties that we aren't doing that I thought was. I didn't want to mislead the market, somehow, even though [indecipherable] that it wasn't our projects. So we took that out. And three is the pipeline is so big, we weren't having, we weren't doing the right discipline of, you know what's in there, because it is a, big pipeline. So we just felt like it's probably better to communicate it when it's been approved. So the pipeline is actually, I didn't want to just lift like we'll be at schedule that says, here's all the densification we're going to do. I'd rather just put it in the 8-K when we actually are doing it. That's the nature of our company as opposed to outlining potential stuff. So the pipeline is continues to be very big Northgate. The Northgate continues to evolve. It's a $1 billion project you know with office, residential, all sorts of mixed-use stuff. So you know we have the Houston Galleria development again that could have been on a pipe, but we're not quite ready to start construction. So you'll continue to see what's the number over $2 billion to $3 billion. If I had that we had put a number on it, but we'll, I think we'll just, it is so much ingrained in our business now. There is no reason to separate it. It's just part of our 8-K that you'll see as we approve deals. So I look at it as an evolution or sophistication in our ability to execute. So it's just part of our portfolio as opposed to this is a separate distinct schedule. Doesn't need to be anymore because it just part of the nature of what we do.
Jeremy Metz -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
Got it. Thanks for the time.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Alexander Goldfarb with Sandler O'Neill. Please proceed with your question.
Alexander Goldfarb -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst
Hey, good morning out there. So two questions.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Alexander, why do you say good morning out there all the time. Do you think we are that far out there?
Alexander Goldfarb -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst
Well, I know -- it's just a standard hello greeting. So anyway. Now you're asking me to think I my feet which is tough.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sorry about that questions.
Alexander Goldfarb -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst
First on the debt side, obviously you had strong demand on your unsecured bonds you price pretty tight to Apple. But maybe you can just talk about what's going on in the mortgage market, some of the folks that we spoken to have said the lenders are either pulling back or trying to pair exposure or tightening terms, lowering LTVs. I mean we all saw the LTV in the underwriting for the Norwalk Sono mall. So maybe you can just give a sense of what's going on the mortgage side of the business. And whether it's by asset type. Is it across the board or is it certain productivity levels of malls, etc. Just a bit more color on there.
Brian J. McDade -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Good morning Alex, it's Brian. So look, I think from the mortgage perspective. This year it has been a relatively light year from maturity profile perspective, but we are much more active next year. We are already in the market on some of those assets are receiving. The solid indications back in line with what our expectations are. Look, I think at the end of the day, we are not seeing any reduction in appetite, but certainly that's a function of our asset quality. And so what we expect that market is going to be there. I understand that there is a few deals that are out there now that will get price here in the next 6, 8 weeks, which will further provide price discovery in that marketplace.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, look, I think I would reaffirmed Brian's points, but also just add a couple of things. Number one is sponsorship in and again, that's it. I'm not reflecting any other deals that are out there, but sponsorship is the case for everybody. Sponsorship is critically important. That's number one. And you know the balance sheet and that's what's great about where we stand is that we don't, we can do all sorts of different financings. We're not tied to the secured market or the unsecured markets. And that again is a material separator which you know, I mean we didn't harp on it again today. You know when Tom does this first thing, he usually puts then and I, Mike. I think people are tired of that's talking about it. So but I would think that and the proof is always in the putting, the putting was pretty damn good a month ago. Okay. So the reality is we do have this separator in our real estate peer group, because we have the ability to go in and out of the markets pretty effectively whether secured unsecured etc.
Alexander Goldfarb -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst
Okay, that's helpful. And then the second question is on all the new investing you're doing the Sports Illustrated whether not you do Forever 21. All these things as you underwrite them how is your tolerance for sort of the time to get to cash flow positive. Is it the same as you would underwrite for real estate meaning or do these projects take longer or do you allow yourself more to let these things go before you decide ultimately to just kick the venture out and move on to the next. Just curious how you're underwriting is different in the time it takes to profitability versus the non-traditional retail ventures versus traditional retail real estate?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, I think it really depends on the category and what the, -- I mean the reality is, all these companies have comparable. So some case there are valued at 5 times cash flow. In some cases they're value to 20 times cash flow. And it's really a function of what we see in the future and where the market is. So we don't really get ahead of ourselves, one way or another on that. And then like I said, I think we look at it similar to what you know with respect to Simon Venture Group, what kind of the venture people look at it, we look at it with the same lens and in the private equity, I think we do the same thing. And again, we have this extra soft in the sense that we're expecting to get other benefits out of it, which are not necessarily in our numbers, but which is important to us. And I don't want to talk about retailers specifically and, but we are not. It just so everyone, it's clear we're not involved in the one retailer, you mentioned about investing or doing anything on that front. I mean I think it got mischaracterize. Last call, so I just want to be clear on that, we're not involved in any retailer that is in BK in terms of us looking to invest. So just to be clear on that.
Alexander Goldfarb -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst
Okay. Thank you, David.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Rich Hill with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.
Rich Hill -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Hey, David. So look, I think the reason that you're differentiating yourself is you're playing a lot more offense then maybe some of your peers who are playing defense. So with that in mind I have one question and a follow-up to that. Look, 7% to 8% development yields to quote you not too shabby in this world backdrop of slow growth and low rates. Are you seeing, maybe even more demand from sovereign wealth funds, other foreign investors to maybe partner with you on your developments with an eye on the long-term?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, look, I think , so really good question, Rich. And you know it's funny. Most of those folks, I got to be careful here, so I don't mean you know, I mean right now let's face it, we're a contrarian investment. Okay. If you look at our multiple compared to kind of most of the other non-retail real estate companies. And if you look at cash flow stability or multiples or however you want to slice and basis we're in today's world where contrarian and there are not frankly, a lot of contrarian investors, there's more herd mentality. There is some very sophisticated sovereign wealth that would love to partner with us on new opportunities. And again, when I say new opportunities. You know, existing real estate that they may have. And they want someone like us to do that. We're starting those discussions, they're very early days, just to get to know them, but the reality is not a lot of concern investment and for whatever reason we are considered a contrarian but you do make a good point. We're on the offense and the fact of matter is we've been so busy and excited about the both the redevelopment, the densification and some of the new ventures that we've had that's perfectly fine for us and we're going to continue to run the business. So I do think at some point there will be at swap back to reality, but you know those kind of investors would rather buy certain asset types, the 3.5 yield, I won't name names as opposed 6 plus and Class A regional malls. That's been historically a bad debt over time. And you know who I'm to say, I'm smarter than those other guys. But listen I'm willing to play the game and see who is right in the long run.
Rich Hill -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Got it. So one follow-up question to that. It look you have a tremendous amount of free cash flow that you're spinning off a super strong balance sheet. Why wouldn't you just ramp-up capex as a percentage of your operating cash flow right now and spend even more money to redevelop our properties for the future. And I guess the question I'm ultimately asking is, you had said capex is going to be relatively range bound, why wouldn't you play even more offense in what you're playing right now?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, it goes back to a little. I mean it is literally, some of the big projects, we have. We're still constrained by getting approval. So we have two or three big ones that are in the approval process, just to name three that jump out at Orange County, Stoneridge which is in the East Bay area of California, King of Prussia. So we don't have the approvals yet to start. That's the biggest limiter. And we are building an office and the reality is we don't, -- that's the one area, we're not going to build spec on. I mean we're depending on the size, we're going to want some lead tenants. We're not foolish. So, but we think we have really good product that is differentiated in the markets that we're contemplating that -- getting the lead tenant it does take a little bit of time. So, I think we're pretty aggressive, but you know and Northgate is a great example. I think Northgate we could have been a little more methodical. I mean we had, just to get your, it depresses me a little bit, but just to give you an order of magnitude. We had -- roughly. We had in that in our numbers this year to do about $15 million of NOI and it's going to do $5 you know roughly. Yeah, I hereby come on, I know these numbers. And that's because we accelerated we basically decided let's just get on with our lives and tier the malls. Okay. Happy to be out there in the mall is coming down, believe or not.
So we are doing it, it's just, you know, I think we're moving pretty fast. In some of these areas we're not going to be, you know if we are building office. We're not going to get over our. I mean it's a 100,000 square foot [indecipherable] building, that's one thing. But, we are not going to get over our skis too much on some of the stuff to make sure we're in good shape.
Analyst
Got it. That's helpful, David. Thank you.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Nick Yulico with Scotiabank. Please proceed with your question.
Nick Yulico -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Good morning. Sorry if I missed this, but can we just get the bankruptcy impact on same-store NOI growth this quarter. I think it was cited as about 100 basis points in the first twp two quarters this year?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
It's a 100 year to date and it was 60 roughly 60 in this quarter, correct or not?
Nick Yulico -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
100 for the quarter?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
100 for the quarter. I'm sorry, 100 for the quarter.
Nick Yulico -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Okay, thanks. And then second question is, just going back to Forever 21. We looked at the bankruptcy filing for them. You only have one existing store on the store closure list Roosevelt Field, this excludes all the stores and development, which will not be opening. So I guess that store closure list. I mean should that give us comfort? That there is one store in there, or should we be expecting that of your 98 stores with them either you already gave rent relief or you're planning to over the next year.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Again, we don't want to talk about specific retailers. I think there -- we will have to see how that bank bankruptcy evolves. I mean there are more stores if they rejected that or about to reject they never open. Again, I don't want to get into nitty-gritty detail, but in that particular case you brought it up, it was wildly rose. We had a handful of those that at least is executed, there won't be opening. So whether now they weren't in our initial numbers in any event. So you'll see some of those come out one way or another, but it's never been in our until they open. It's not in our document. I guess our 8-K, but we'll see how it goes. I mean I can't -- I'm not. You know and I want to be very careful here. So I'm not involved in it, we're negotiating kind of the future, like every other major landlord and we'll see how it all shakes out at the end of the day.
Nick Yulico -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Okay. So I guess I'm just trying to tie back to the bankruptcy impact year-to-date, it was 100 basis points. I'm assuming there was not much in that from Forever 21 unless you've already renegotiate leases and it's almost 1.5% of your base rent. So as we look forward over the next year. It kind of feels like that bankruptcy impact of Forever 21 by itself could be similar to your overall bankruptcy impact this year. Is that fair?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, I think you'll see a bigger we'll know more in 2020. It's not going to be material in 2019. And I think the focus is going to be really 2020 what is that group is able to do going forward, which is out of our hands. And we're going to have to wait and see. We will have a, -- again, I don't want to get into the particular tenants. But we'll have that -- our view of what happens with that and other bankrupt tenants. We will ultimately be in our 2020 estimates. And that's the way for us to look at it at this point. The materiality of any of these guys in the next year-end is not in my opinion going to be material. It might be once that might be. I don't know. Okay. But it's, we did update our guidance and what we know today about the bankruptcy tenants is in our guidance, and that's the important thing and our view of some of these bankrupt tenants and what their plan is for 2020 will be in our 2020 guidance. And that's the best way I can answer that.
Nick Yulico -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Thank you.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Linda Tsai with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.
Linda Tsai -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Hi, just following up on what you were just talking about. So with some of these bankruptcies having been unexpected in 19. As you look out to 2020. Do you think a base case of 2% as NOI growth would still be achievable?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We give our guidance at the end of January. We have a date yet in the year. We get, we're waiting to see if the Colts make the Super Bowl because we want to make, -- we want to work at around that round that date. There's a joke. But, no, I actually think pretty good team, but we give that all of that will be reflected in and we've never given 2020 guidance. And I mean people have estimates all over the place. So I don't really tie on a one way or another.
Linda Tsai -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Okay. And then in terms of SPO.com, how are you and Michael Rubin thinking about its value proposition. How much crossover the product you provide online through SPO.com is available through other online distribution channels. And then do you have any sense of the price differential on SPO.com? And how it might compare with other discounters like roster TJ?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, look, this is a complicated. That's a complicated question and I think the important thing is we both think and not just us but you know our SPO team and the existing RGG team couldn't be more excited about the future opportunities together, that we have. I think there team is unquestionably excited. I would not, I think it's going to be a great partnership for our company. And together, we're going to do a lot more both in terms of growing their existing business and then the partnership, taking the origins of our business and extrapolating that going forward. But it is early days and we're very committed to making this exciting and between all of our relationships with the brands and all of our physical attributes and there E-commerce attributes. This could be a really, really significant opportunity for our partnership. So let's give it a little bit of time. Can't give you is an exact roadmap because some of the stuff, we'd like to keep to ourselves, because we are still growing the business and there's a lot of competition out there on that front. So but again, couldn't be more pleased with the potential opportunity in the future.
Linda Tsai -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Thanks for that.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Ki Bin Kim with SunTrust. Please proceed with your question.
Ki Bin Kim -- SunTrust -- Analyst
Thanks and good morning. So you been reporting improving sales per square foot for the past several years, but that formula. There is some noise to it because the denominator is always changing. So I was wondering if you had a sense of the total sales productivity at your centers over the past couple of years. I just want to get a sense of if it's becoming more vibrant or somewhat static over time. And I realize hotels and apartment. If you can't you there some sales data for it by just kind of get a bigger picture sense?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
You know, I will give you the benefit of rule of large numbers. There is absolutely given our large portfolio. There is absolutely your comment about the denominator changing, is there a relevant in terms of our results. Because one particular property going in one particular property going out or 10 going in or 10 going out aunt going to move the number my friend. So that's number one. Number two is many cases in our new developments; they come in below our average. And with that said, if anything, its understanding it. And then finally, I'll say, we continue to believe that we're reporting and this is really important and I've said it again, I want to keep saying it, but we're getting the you what's reported to us. And in some cases, what are reported to us is not actually gross sales.
Ki Bin Kim -- SunTrust -- Analyst
Okay. I'm just going back to the topic of your investments that you're making and in places like RGG or Authentic Brands. Is it easy to get the sense that you're focused on making your fleet better and adding on different types of opportunities like private equity or venture capital. When does it start to become more interesting to actually increasing your fleet size or is it the case that the upside opportunity and redevelopment and private equity type of investments is still just far greater and better opportunity then increase in the fleet size?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Did you say fleet?
Ki Bin Kim -- SunTrust -- Analyst
Yeah. So first mall count, retail center account things like that.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Okay, well, look, I think we've historically have been acquisitive over our career. We just haven't done anything in a while. But the fact of the matter is if we have so much going on in so many opportunities here feel pretty good. I mean I don't feel like we need to do that, but if there's something out there that's makes sense. We would look at it. But I think it's business as usual for us and the focus being on, it sounds like gobbledygook. But the focus is just making us a better company, we got plenty of assets. And all of these things that we are doing and attempting to do is to make the real estate in our company better. But we are more than a real estate company and that we interface with brands and consumers to an unbelievable extent. So why that take advantage of that reach that we've done reasonably well. But we can certainly do it too much greater extent and that continues to be a focus for us.
Ki Bin Kim -- SunTrust -- Analyst
All right, thank you.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Vince Tibone with Green Street Advisors. Please proceed with your question.
Vince Tibone -- Green Street Advisors -- Analyst
Hi, good morning. Could you elaborate on the magnitude of the decline in international tourism and the impact that had on foot traffic and tenant sales. Some of your key gateway market properties?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, we don't give out specifics on that, but I mean the, put it this way. The business has been -- the tourist centers have been relatively flat in terms of sales. And we think had we had a normal -- what I call it normal dollar in terms of the strength versus vis-a-vis the euro and other currencies and all the other noise that's out there. We would have expected at 5% to 6% increase. So I don't know if that gives you kind of what you want. But it's that some of our bigger international properties sales have been flat. And traffic is actually not been too much the problem, it's been stable , but it's really we're seeing the flatness of the sales that we would expected when we did budget, we would have expected to have a 5% or 7% increase in sales.
Vince Tibone -- Green Street Advisors -- Analyst
That's helpful color. And then just one more from me, maybe switching gears a little. Can you provide some color on the trends you're seeing in the private market for malls? I mean do you think cap rates and the number of interested bidders has changed over the last six months or so?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I would say to you -- I have not seen a change. But I would think that I have not really seen a tangible change. I still think investing is more or less a herd mentality. And we're, you know, I was going to give an animal analogy, but I better refrain. Last time I did cockroaches which I do, I'm not going to do that put. I think people -- the guys that have the money, I count say they've always been retail real estate has always been, it's not a commodity. So the operator really matters. So to speak, so it's not like a warehouse that's like one commodity versus the next. And so the operators matter and the money that kind of goes in and out, commodity real estate, it's always kind of had been flowed for retail real estate could be who the operator is always been materially important. So that's one aspect, I'd say to you. The next is, I still think surprisingly. I'm actually surprised about it, but you know the so-called you know, smart money is not play a bigger role in this, but you know, I mean, they obviously have different points of view and they may be right, but we feel pretty good about what we're doing.
Vince Tibone -- Green Street Advisors -- Analyst
No, that's helpful. And just one follow-up on that, I mean it, let's say the herd mentality does push cap rates higher, is there a point where you would potentially come in and be an acquirer of single assets on the market, given to your point, the platform makes a big difference and you could probably increase NOI some of these acquisitions?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I think if there is a good fit, we would certainly take a hard look at it.
Vince Tibone -- Green Street Advisors -- Analyst
Okay, great.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I think that the other point, I mean, we're not really seeing, I think that's a good point that we're not really seeing kind of the assets show up in the market.
Vince Tibone -- Green Street Advisors -- Analyst
Okay, that's helpful. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Michael Mueller with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question.
Michael Mueller -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
Yeah, hi, good morning. I guess, following up on that for the properties where you have JV partners. Have you seen those investors want to exit more in recent years, or they fine with the exposures and it's more about where to park incremental dollars for them?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I would say a lot of them are following the herd mentality.
Michael Mueller -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
Okay.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I think my guess might be -- I'm not trying to be, am I clear on that. Not, I'll restate what I would be answering.
Michael Mueller -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean with that OK.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I think a lot of the folks out there are little nervous about our business, but you know as I would just put it not our business, it's not Simon Property Group business. But you know nervous about whatever retail generally. And so they do to follow the herd mentality. That's where somebody may be us. Make is going to make a lot of money. I assure you I seen this movie before and our cash flows are very, very, very resilient. If you have good real estate and a good operator they always evolved and always change and if you look at the mall that was built in the '60s, you look at the malls that were built in the '70s and '80s and '90s in 2000. Look at the redevelopment. I mean my goodness they changed a lot. And we're changing today. So one here is overly concerned about it. But all of these guys, they all get -- a lot of people suffer from Group think. Okay. Maybe we do but we don't, we're in a good shape.
Michael Mueller -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
Got it. And I mean would you think over the next three years, five years or so, maybe we see a pickup in your buying out some of these JV partners or is it a little bit more of a function of, if you've got a big redevelopment pipeline. A lot of capital that's going there and you're getting bigger returns on that. So it's -- I guess that's the trade-off, how do we think about that?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I mean we're focused listen if they're nervous I'm going to buy them at a real big discount. So let them get really nervous. I want them nervous, OK. Nervous is good for us. The reality is there could be opportunities, but we'll see OK.
Michael Mueller -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
Okay. Thanks, David. Bye.
Operator
Thank you. And we have a follow-up question from Christy McElroy with Citi. Please proceed with your question.
Christy McElroy -- Citi -- Analyst
Hey David. It's Christy here. I know that just an accounting question from me, I know that the new straight-lining of CAM was addressed on the last call and tertiary line trended higher this year but with the recent bankruptcies. I'm just wondering when you make adjustments have been in there. Also for the write-off of accrued straight-line rents deemed uncollectible just with the bankruptcies this year given the new rules around determination of on collectability. Just trying to get a good sense for what the normal run rate is for that line?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I mean that all flows through. So I don't have that off the top of my head. I would say to you it's not material. But I mean that we do that all the time. Right, so that we have to make that decision all the time, whether it's collectible or not collectible.
Christy McElroy -- Citi -- Analyst
Okay. I just didn't know if there was a material impact on that line aside from that being elevated with the straight-lining of CAM?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Not material.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
David, it's Michael speaking. You talked a little bit about how your stocks concerning investment at this point given the multiple you view some of your a significant balance sheet capacity to buy back your stock. You did about $300 million in the last six months. You talked a little bit on this call about maybe partnering with sovereign wealth. It sounds like either buying assets that are managing assets they may own or look at new opportunities?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I don't think I said that Michael, I said there are very few contrarian investors right now..And we're not really we're at the very early stages of seeing how they feel about the market in general. So I just want to be clear on that. Okay?
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
Right. I was listening to when you, you're talking about maybe working with. I didn't know if there is an opportunity to either liquefy some of the value in the assets and the value you've created is the debt markets provided you a substantial amount of capital at very attractive rate but it's your stock that though is the one this associated with the performance that you're putting up. And so I know in the past you've been reluctant to sell JV stakes in your assets to buy back your stock. I'm wondering if that's changed at all in some of these conversations that you're having if you find that there is an opportunity to partner with contrarian capital that you want to do that?
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Well, again I have never been a fan to sell an asset A, to make a mark because A, assets grow historically over time and most everybody that sold A asset, if they're going to believe it's an A asset in the future. Regret that decision. Okay. So and buying stock back is a temporary investment decision and the reality is we're in this for the long haul as we've demonstrated over almost 26 years has been a public company. So I think that's kind of the worst thing. Frankly, we could do and getting this mark, getting a mark on our portfolio is fool's gold, it's never worked because the next question is, well, what about the rest of the portfolio. So and again, just to reemphasize. So the answer is you know no interest in doing that, number one. Number two is, there are you know, some of these, I mean we're just I don't want to over emphasize and hopefully I didn't I look back at the call, but we're not out running around saying, do you want to go. People come to us we'll talk to them about interest partnership interest, but we're not out soliciting sovereign wealth funds, were not out doing that the reality is we don't need their capital. So, they know my number 1800 David call me if they want, they don't have to. Okay?
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
And I wasn't thinking about it from the market --
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I don't want to over emphasize we've talked to a few here and there, I think they respect what we do, but I don't really know. And maybe that's a flow on us that we haven't really solicited them just to have better relationships, but I mean we've done OK without them being a major player for us to get to where we are today. We've never needed that in scale. So that's that. So I don't want to over emphasize, we've had discussions here and there, because you know sometimes they call sometimes they don't. So we're not out. We're not out trying to buy partnership interest of ourselves or others. We're not out talking to the sovereign wealth other then we'll have a couple of conversations and look the reality is a lot of that institutional investors as we all know, have a certain queasiness over retail. We've seen that before. It doesn't affect us, it's not, it doesn't, it affects you it affects others, it does not affect me and Mike it up with what we do. That's the important part. Okay?
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
And I wasn't thinking about it from a positive mark. I was thinking about more so in being able to raise additional capital and invest in your stock. It just basically bolster that program that you're doing right now. Using the free cash flow and capacity doing something more meaningful if you're able to filing that investor that's willing to partner with you. I understand the dynamics I understand, giving up the growth. I just didn't know if that was part of the cycle today just given where things stand.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
No, I mean the stuff that, look, I think most of the -- and again, we're spending more time on this then wanted. But most people, most institutional investors would like to do something as we've talked to and often on over several years. Most of them would like to do external stuff with us. But the reality is we haven't been doing that. So we haven't been talking to. Okay. So now again it's where we're spending too much time on this. On the other front look, we've got, why are we aggressively buying our stock back. Listen, we love our balance sheet, will be, I think it's an unbelievable advantage -- unbelievable it's under-appreciated. Sorry. Tom, I took out paragraph in the teleconference to do $3.5 billion in 4 hours. 30-year bonds blah, blah, blah is all pretty powerful.
We don't want to jeopardize that we've seen when people overstepped their numbers, overstepped their credit ratings, you know how it kind of can retard opportunities going forward. We don't want to do that. And importantly, I mean, we're in the process of adding to our already successful retail real estate portfolio. And what does that mean; we're doing all this densification stuff. We're building our consumer-facing business; you know we're positioning the company for the future. And you know as we all know, you know any leading company out there, invest in the future from Microsoft and Amazon to you know to go down the list.
Every successful company in understands the importance of investment and so I want the balance sheet that allows us to invest, if I had a criticism of you know historical retailers. They did not invest in there and again, it's not for me to criticize. So I don't want to sound like I know at all, but the reality is, what we are seeing what Rick and I have seen because of a strained balance sheets or overspending and one thing versus the other thing is the inability to reinvest in your business. It is a major, no, no. So that's, that we are not going to do the major no, no.
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
Thanks for the time, David.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call over to Mr. David Simon for any closing remarks.
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Okay, thank you. Everyone have a great day.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 83 minutes
Call participants:
Tom Ward -- Investor Relations
David E. Simon -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Rick Sokolov -- Vice Chairman
Brian J. McDade -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Craig Schmidt -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Michael Bilerman -- Citi -- Analyst
Christy McElroy -- Citi -- Analyst
Steve Sakwa -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Analyst
Caitlin Burrows -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Jeremy Metz -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
Alexander Goldfarb -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst
Rich Hill -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Nick Yulico -- Scotiabank -- Analyst
Linda Tsai -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Ki Bin Kim -- SunTrust -- Analyst
Vince Tibone -- Green Street Advisors -- Analyst
Michael Mueller -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
