  We consider locally conformal Kaehler geometry as an equivariant, homothetic
Kaehler geometry (K,\Gamma). We show that the de Rham class of the Lee form can
be naturally identified with the homomorphism projecting \Gamma to its dilation
factors, thus completing the description of locally conformal Kaehler geometry
in this equivariant setting. The rank r of a locally conformal Kaehler manifold
is the rank of the image of this homomorphism. Using algebraic number theory,
we show that r is non-trivial, providing explicit examples of locally conformal
Kaehler manifolds with 1<r<b_1. As far as we know, these are the first examples
of this kind. Moreover, we prove that locally conformal Kaehler Oeljeklaus-Toma
manifolds have either r=b_1 or r=b_1/2.
