The financial press has been trashing malls for months now, but it doesn’t make much to turn the tide. With a bid by Brookfield Property Partners to purchase the remaining shares of GGP, a REIT that is significantly invested in malls and retail operations, Wall Street is taking a second look at mall properties. Esther Fung writes:
Shares of A-mall real-estate investment trusts Taubman Centers Inc., TCO -0.16%Macerich Co. MAC +0.32% and GGP all have risen between 14% and 24% since the start of November after having underperformed the broader REIT market since August 2016.
“Two weeks ago everyone hated malls—‘the mall is dead.’ But now the mall is alive,” said Alexander Goldfarb, managing director at investment bank Sandler O’Neill and Partners.
The takeout offer by Brookfield, which already owns 34.4% of GGP, has been widely anticipated since another Brookfield affiliate acquired mall owner Rouse Properties in 2016 and took it private.
There also are widespread hopes that Brookfield will sweeten its current $23 per share offer for GGP. Shares of GGP rose to as much as $23.97 on Monday on news of the unsolicited bid. Shares of Brookfield Property Partners fell 5% on Monday.
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