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A series of REITs could be going private in 2016, Scott Schaevitz, co-head of Americas real estate investment banking at Barclays, says.
Investor concerns about the upcoming interest rate increase are driving share prices to below net asset value, creating targets for REIT privatization.
As opposed to just a "handful" last year, "you have huge portions of the REIT market that are trading at discounts," Scott tells NAREIT.
Schaevitz says no particular sector will be more likely to privatize, though many could follow once fellow REITs start going private.
And don't expect new REITs to replace them next year, either. Discounted share prices makes IPOs less likely in the coming year, since IPOs would have to offer even lower than the already discounted rate. "It makes it very difficult for the math to work,” Schaevitz says. [NAREIT]
