Commercial Real Estate Investment Vehicles

[Packer16]

Y'all,

 

Does anyone know of any distressed commercial RE investment vehicles beyond Winthrop (FUR) that has a good track record.  TIA

 

Packer

[arbitragr]

I'm sure you could do a search on good CRE REITS.

 

I don't know whether they are 'distressed' and I'm not sure whether the level of 'distress' is as high today as it was the previous few months, but the following are industry leaders and have great track records;

SL Green (SLG)

Vornado (VNO)

Boston Properties (BXP)

Simon Property (SPG)

 

You could probably do a search for smaller REITS, however my view is that the quality of properties won't be as high as the above.

I've been invested in SL Green since July/August this year and it has been one of my best investments thus far - doubling my original investment.

I'm not pumping either, I generally think that valuations are quite lofty or fair right now so you might have to look harder for good quality REITs.

But back in June/August things like SLG was a no brainer.

I took a position back in August and talked of it's merits on this forum here:

http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?topic=870" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic" 7524#msg7524

http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?topic=870" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic" 8232#msg8232

 

But it's not as much of bargain now as it was back then. I think the best opportunities to acquire great quality REITs at a bargain price is almost over.

 

 

[dcollon]

I think RWT is interesting.  I can't say too much about it, but they raised a nice amount of capital over the last 12 months and a good amount of it is still sitting on their balance sheet for opportunities in distressed CRE.  I view George Bull (CEO) and his team as value investors in the credit industry.

[joepublic]

I would like to add another idea to the list. I read about this one a few weeks ago in Forbes magazine: Retail Opportunity Investments Corp (ROIC)

 

They raised money a few month ago. Right now, they are trading at a slight premium to cash on the balance sheet. Their goal is to purchase high quality shopping centers in densely, populated neighborhoods. The CEO, Stuart Tanz, has an outstanding track record. They completed their first deal last week. I am willing to pay a slight premium to cash for his expertise.

 

 

Disclosure: Long 1,000 shares.