BETHESDA, MD–Last week Land & Buildings urged RLJ Lodging Trust to sell itself in an open letter to shareholders. The reasons, according to the activist investor firm — RLJ's management has been disappointing and it is doubtful, based on the company's performance, whether shareholder value will ever be unlocked.
The firm, which owns about 2% of the REIT, also asked it to provide RLJ a comprehensive plan explaining how it will reach a valuation better than the all-cash offer that Blackstone Group had made for the REIT, but was rejected.
Instead of accepting Blackstone's offer, RLJ went ahead with its acquisition of another lodging REIT, FelCor.
RLJ responded to Land & Buildings with its own statement, including this excerpt.
With the recent closing of the merger with FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated on August 31, 2017, we are working diligently to integrate both platforms. We continue to focus on unlocking the strategic benefits from the merger such as the realization of synergies, balance sheet optimization, strategic dispositions, and repositioning projects, which we believe will drive long-term shareholder value.
RLJ also said it will provide an update on the integration progress and its business results on its third quarter earnings conference call, which will be held in early November 2017.
Whether that will suit Land & Buildings remains to be seen, but the company has become well known for its aggressive tactics and its ability to bend companies to its will.
A recent example is Hudson's Bay, which hired an an investment bank in response to earlier pressure from Land & Building to monetize its real estate holdings — its Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York alone has been valued at $3.7 billion.
Last week was a busy one for Land & Buildings; the same week it sent its letter to RLJ Holdings it also said it would to seek to remove Hudson's Bay directors unless it took bold action about its lagging performance.
BETHESDA, MD–Last week Land & Buildings urged RLJ Lodging Trust to sell itself in an open letter to shareholders. The reasons, according to the activist investor firm — RLJ's management has been disappointing and it is doubtful, based on the company's performance, whether shareholder value will ever be unlocked.
The firm, which owns about 2% of the REIT, also asked it to provide RLJ a comprehensive plan explaining how it will reach a valuation better than the all-cash offer that Blackstone Group had made for the REIT, but was rejected.
Instead of accepting Blackstone's offer, RLJ went ahead with its acquisition of another lodging REIT, FelCor.
RLJ responded to Land & Buildings with its own statement, including this excerpt.
With the recent closing of the merger with FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated on August 31, 2017, we are working diligently to integrate both platforms. We continue to focus on unlocking the strategic benefits from the merger such as the realization of synergies, balance sheet optimization, strategic dispositions, and repositioning projects, which we believe will drive long-term shareholder value.
RLJ also said it will provide an update on the integration progress and its business results on its third quarter earnings conference call, which will be held in early November 2017.
Whether that will suit Land & Buildings remains to be seen, but the company has become well known for its aggressive tactics and its ability to bend companies to its will.
A recent example is Hudson's Bay, which hired an an investment bank in response to earlier pressure from Land & Building to monetize its real estate holdings — its Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in
Last week was a busy one for Land & Buildings; the same week it sent its letter to RLJ Holdings it also said it would to seek to remove Hudson's Bay directors unless it took bold action about its lagging performance.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
