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Ringing in the New Year

Chris Volk, a 1979 graduate of Washington and Lee, rang in the new year—literally. He visited the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 2 to ring the opening bell of 2015 and to celebrate the recent listing of his company, STORE Capital Corp., on the exchange.

STORE is an internally managed net-lease real estate investment trust that invests in single-tenant operational real estate. It is the third company Chris has taken public since 1994.

“Ringing the first opening bell of the New Year is an exciting way to celebrate the beginning of an important new chapter in STORE Capital’s history,” said Chris. “We were gratified by Wall Street’s enthusiastic response to our IPO and strong interest in our company. In partnering with our middle market and larger customers, we have built a remarkable value proposition that provides tailored real estate lease solutions that create value for them by improving their capital efficiency. Going public was an important step in our long-term strategy, giving us more opportunity to help our customers as we grow.”

In an interview on the Benzinga website, he noted: “We’ve done $1.1 billion worth of investments. It’s a significant number. The fact that we’ve done the kind of buying we have shows that we are hitting a nerve. We’re meeting a need in the marketplace and we’re looking forward to this year with great excitement.”

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