Corporate Office Properties Trust: management transactions · United States · SEC (Form 4)

About Corporate Office Properties Trust

Corporate Office Properties Trust, now branded as COPT Defense Properties, is a U.S.-listed real estate investment trust trading on the NYSE under the ticker OFC. For French-speaking investors, it is best understood as a U.S. office REIT with a highly specialized focus on defense-related, IT-related and technically oriented real estate assets. The company is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, United States, and its strategy is built around owning, developing and operating properties that serve mission-critical tenants and locations tied to U.S. national security and infrastructure needs. Historically, the company was launched as a broader office property owner, but over time it has sharpened its portfolio toward markets and tenants that tend to offer better leasing visibility than the traditional office sector. That strategic shift is highly relevant in the current U.S. office environment, where general-purpose office landlords continue to face pressure from hybrid work, elevated vacancy and uneven demand. COPT’s niche positioning gives it a more defensive profile than many peers: it concentrates capital near defense installations and critical infrastructure nodes, aiming to serve U.S. government users, defense contractors, and IT/data-oriented occupiers. Its core business lines include Defense/IT office properties, development projects intended to support tenant expansion, and certain data-center or infrastructure-adjacent real estate assets. The company’s portfolio is designed to combine recurring rental income with a selective development pipeline, often involving pre-leased projects or expansions for existing customers. In practical terms, that means COPT is less of a generic office owner and more of a mission-driven landlord with a strong geographic and tenant focus. Competitive positioning is one of the company’s main strengths. Rather than competing on size alone, COPT differentiates itself through portfolio quality, tenant stickiness and its concentration in U.S. defense ecosystems. Management has emphasized its exposure to priority national defense missions, which supports occupancy, leasing and long-term relevance. In its first-quarter 2026 update, the company reported a total portfolio of 25.1 million square feet and highlighted strong occupancy and leasing metrics in its Defense/IT segment. It also guided to modestly higher 2026 FFO per share, which signals a stable but disciplined growth trajectory. Recent developments have included first-quarter 2026 results showing growth in comparable cash NOI, continued development activity, and the repayment of a $400 million note at maturity in March 2026. The company also added to its pipeline and acquired land in Virginia connected to fully leased buildings used by the U.S. Government and defense contractors. For investors in France, Belgium or Switzerland, OFC offers a U.S. real estate exposure that is more specialized than the average office REIT, with its risk and opportunity profile closely linked to U.S. defense spending, critical infrastructure demand and the resilience of mission-essential tenants on the NYSE in the United States.