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The market value of Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust more than doubled Friday after an appeals court dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by investors of another REIT it acquired.
Prices jumped by 182% in premarket trading after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit dismissed a suit against Virginia-based Wheeler and fellow REIT Cedar Realty Trust’s former board of directors. As of early Friday afternoon, Wheeler's stock was up nearly 120% on the day and nearly 700% over the past five days.
Wheeler acquired Cedar in 2022 and now operates it as a subsidiary.
“With this matter behind us, both companies remain well-positioned to execute on their strategic plans,” M. Andrew Franklin, CEO of Wheeler and Cedar, said in a statement.
The suit was launched by Cedar’s preferred stockholders and was dismissed last year by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Shareholders alleged that Cedar and its former directors breached the terms of contract of Cedar’s preferred stock and that the former directors had breached their fiduciary duties. They also made tort claims against Wheeler.
“Courts are not time machines for disgruntled buyers. We resolve legal claims,” the Wednesday verdict in the appeal of the 2023 ruling says. “And Plaintiffs do not adequately allege that Defendants violated any legal right or duty — they only allege that they regret the terms they bargained for.”
Cedar, a retail-focused REIT that concentrates on grocery-anchored shopping centers in the Northeast, sold a 33-property portfolio in 2022 to a joint venture of a DRA Advisors fund and KPR Centers to shore up its finances. It then sold the company and its remaining 53 shopping centers to Virginia-based Wheeler.
Wheeler also acquired all of Cedar’s outstanding common stock.
Despite the surge in value, Wheeler’s stock was still down more than 75% in 2024, falling from a high of $38.88 per share to $9.03 as of early Friday afternoon.
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