Real Estate New Jersey

NEWARK-Mercury Real Estate Advisors has called for a quicker sale or liquidation of properties for locally based Wilshire Enterprises, as well as the termination of its CEO, Sherry Wilzig Isak. The Greenwich, CT-based Mercury, whose 14.6% stake of shares makes it Wilshire's largest single shareholder, has written three publicly aired letters since November claiming Wilshire's actions are not maximizing shareholder value. For previous coverage, click here.

In this latest missive, Mercury CEO David R. Jarvis and president Malcolm F. MacLean IV write that they approve of Wilshire canceling a planned multifamily buy in Avondale, AZ, as well as its plans to sell individual properties in its portfolio. But it wants the process to move quicker, believing the real estate market to be softening. "We believe that if management was truly committed to realizing shareholder value and not simply interested in perpetuating the existence of a company to earn record salaries and bonuses, the company would have already been sold or all assets would have been liquidated," they write.

On May 15, Wilshire announced a $3 per share cash dividend; Jarvis and MacLean would like to see that price upped to $4 or $4.25. This new letter also chastised Wilshire, and Isak in particular, for selling off its oil and gas business in March 2004, before the current surge of oil prices. "This embarrassingly poor decision indicates that Ms. Isak had an incredible lack of understanding of the potential value of the company's assets," they write.