REITs were all the rage in 2015. Investors love REITs, which pay out 90% of their earnings to shareholders and give serious tax breaks. Shareholders pressured several companies to spin off holdings into REITs.
Now that Congress banned REIT spinoffs, lets take a look back at the biggest ones that got off the ground while the getting was good.
1. Four Corners Property Trust
Type: Restaurant REIT
Price Per Share: $23.39
Market Cap: $1B
Debut Date: Nov. 9, 2015
You might know Darden Restaurants best from its soup, salad and breadsticks, but it's been eating from the REIT buffet since its board of directors approved this move in October, with hopes that the 424 restaurant spinoff would raise about $1B—and lo and behold!
2. Seritage Growth Properties
Type: Retail REIT
Price Per Share: $40.38
Market Cap: $1B
Debut Date: July 6, 2015
The struggling retailer Sears spun off its real estate holdings over the summer. Seritage investors celebrated when shares jumped 17% on news of Warren Buffett's investment in the company in December.
3. Forest City Realty Trust
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Type: Varied
Market Cap: $5.5B
Price Per Share: $21.66
Debut Date: Dec. 31, 2015
After much deliberating, some shareholder approval meetings, and turning the Brooklyn Nets' Barclays Center into a taxable subsidiary, Forest City Enterprises fully converted itself into Forest City Realty Trust, just in the nick of time—at 11:59pm on New Year's Eve.
4. Urban Edge Properties
Type: Shopping Center REIT
Price Per Share: $23.57
Market Cap: $2.34B
Debut Date: January 2015
Vornado's tornado of January property spinoffs created the 79 shopping center REIT Urban Edge Properties, with a total of 15M SF, after being announced only in November 2014. The company may not be done yet, as it talks about spinning off its office and street retail locations as well.
5. MGM Growth Properties
Type: Hotel REIT
Price Per Share: N/A
Market Cap: N/A
Debut Date: Q1 2016
The world famous MGM resorts announced in October its plans to spinoff 10 properties into a REIT, sending $4B of its $12.8B in debt along with it. The REIT will include six Vegas resorts and 24,000 hotel rooms.
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