Flush REITs Have Loads Of Cash, Little To Spend It On
The Wall Street Journal reports: For public real estate companies, spending money has turned out to be harder than raising it — even as some signs point to a pickup in big property deals.
Real-estate investment trusts sold $24 billion in new stock last year, raising hopes the companies would be able to profit from commercial-property distress by picking up high-quality real estate at bargain prices.
But publicly traded REITs bought only $4.6 billion of property in 2009, a 67% decline from the previous year, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics.
With few deals happening and REIT shares now trading at twice their March lows, some executives regret last year's money-raising binge.
"Today I'm sitting with $125 million in cash that I can't find investment for," Stephen Richter, CFO of Weingarten Realty Investors, said in an interview. "If I would have known the markets are where they are today, I certainly wouldn't have sold a third of the company."
View the full article on The Wall Street Journal: Flush REITs Have Loads Of Cash, Little To Spend It On
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Posted by: Mark Alferman