ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA, March 16, 2004—Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income), The Monthly Dividend Company®, (NYSE:O) announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 112 Circle K-branded convenience stores, under long-term, net-lease agreements, from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Toronto:ATDb.TO), for approximately $100.5 million. It is anticipated that the transaction will close shortly.

Realty Income will acquire the 112 properties under 15 to 17-year, triple-net lease agreements. The stores have, on average, approximately 2,780 leasable square feet and are situated on an average lot size of 1.0 acre. Each location has, on average, 3.4 multi-pump gasoline dispensers and the stores within the acquired property portfolio are seasoned units with an average operating history of 16 years. The average purchase price for each property will be approximately $897,000. The 112 properties are located in 9 states including 41 properties in Florida (primarily Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Naples MSA), 38 in Arizona (primarily Phoenix and Tucson MSA), 8 each in South Carolina and Louisiana, 7 in North Carolina, 3 each in Alabama and Mississippi, and 2 each in Georgia and New Mexico.

The Company further disclosed that it plans to hold approximately $92.3 million of the properties in its core portfolio as long-term investments and will place approximately $8.2 million of the properties in its Crest Net Lease, Inc. subsidiary for future sale. After the sale of the Crest Net Lease properties, the Company anticipates that Alimentation Couche-Tard will generate approximately 4.84% of its annual revenue.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry and the 4th largest convenience store operator in North America. The Company is based in Laval, Quebec, Canada and operates a network of approximately 4,800 stores, of which approximately 2,700 are located in the United States. The Company acquired Circle K, including 2,290 U.S. stores, from Conoco Phillips (NYSE:COP) on December 17, 2003.

Commenting on the acquisition, Tom A. Lewis, Chief Executive Officer stated, "We are pleased to enter into the sale-leaseback transaction with Alimentation Couche-Tard following their recent purchase of Circle K convenience stores from Conoco Phillips. The high quality stores, good locations, excellent operating histories and long-term leases will make these stores a welcome addition to our portfolio of properties. In addition, this immediately accretive acquisition will further diversify our real estate portfolio and provide us with increased lease revenue from which to pay monthly dividends."

Commenting further on Realty Income's acquisition of its properties, Richard Fortin, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Alimentation Couche-Tard said, "Realty Income's $100 million sale-leaseback provides us with cash proceeds to repay a portion of our long-term debt. The Company's management team thoroughly understood our industry, strategic growth initiatives and properties, which allowed them to move quickly to secure this transaction."

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the Company's actual future results to differ materially from expected results. These risks include, among others, general economic conditions, local real estate conditions, the availability of capital to finance planned growth, property acquisitions and the timing of these acquisitions, and the profitability of the Company's subsidiary, Crest Net Lease, as described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Consequently, such forward-looking statements should be regarded solely as reflections of the Company's current operating plans and estimates. Actual operating results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date these statements were made.

Realty Income is The Monthly Dividend Company®, a New York Stock Exchange real estate company dedicated to providing shareholders with dependable monthly income. To date the Company has declared 404 consecutive monthly dividend payments throughout its 35-year operating history. The monthly income is supported by the cash flow from over 1,500 retail properties owned under long-term lease agreements with leading regional and national retail chains. The Company is an active buyer of net-leased retail properties nationwide.

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