Activist Investor Becomes Major Rexford Shareholder
Elliott Investment Management became the second activist investor to buy into REIT Rexford Industrial Realty.
Elliott has amassed enough shares in the Los Angeles-based, Southern California-focused industrial landlord to be one of its top five investors, according to Bloomberg, which cited multiple anonymous sources.
The disclosure comes roughly two weeks after Land & Buildings Investment Management, an activist firm that targets REITs, disclosed it had taken a $20M stake in Rexford.
Rexford’s stock was up roughly 5% on the news in early trading Wednesday, giving it a roughly $10B market capitalization. The exact size of Elliott’s stake hasn’t been disclosed.
Rexford and Elliott didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning.
The REIT's share price has struggled in the last year but has seen a recent rally on acquisition rumors. It was trading above $50 per share last August before slipping to $32 per share in April and slowly rallying since.
Rexford owned 422 industrial assets in Southern California totaling 51M SF at the end of June. In its second-quarter earnings, reported in mid-June, the REIT said its portfolio was 96% leased, including 1.7M SF of new leases and renewals signed in the second quarter.
The company reported $113M in net income and a 21% increase in comparable rental rates on new and renewed leases.
Its earnings were slightly ahead of Wall Street estimates, but it wasn’t among the dozens of REITs to boost their guidance amid stronger-than-expected financials.
Elliott, founded in 1977 in New York by Paul Singer, has built a reputation for buying up shares in public companies before pushing for change. The investment manager is also a major shareholder in Equinix, and it is reportedly pushing the data center REIT's management to maximize shareholder value.
REITs as a sector have posted relatively strong quarterly results lately, but they are struggling to attract capital in a macroeconomic environment where bond returns are relatively high and tech stocks continue to surge.
At least half a dozen REITs have announced plans to “explore strategic alternatives” in recent months, effectively telling investors they are looking to boost their financial performance, whether through restructurings, mergers, management shake-ups or outright sales.
