CenterPoint Details Private Decision at Nareit

DORAL, FL-With all the public-to-private movement taking center stage in the industry lately, one insider tackled the issue during the Nareit Law & Accounting Conference here last week. Paul Fisher, president of Oak Brook, IL-based CenterPoint Properties Trust, explained the decision to bring the company private a year ago has had its advantages and disadvantages.After an IPO in 1993, the company operated publicly until March 2006 when it was acquired by CalEast Global Logistics, LLC, a joint venture between the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and LaSalle Investment Advisors.

In his presentation during a session called “State of the Real Estate and Capital Markets,” Fisher said one of the factors in the decision to take the company private was that it wanted to pursue different areas of business. “In 2005, we felt we had exhausted our ability to grow our share price,” Fisher said. “We really wanted to pursue infrastructure development and felt we should operate privately.”

By operating privately, a company does not have to make quarterly earnings calls, during which time vital information about the company’s strategic direction may be revealed encouraging competition. “We didn’t want to announce to the world where we wanted to go because it may encourage competition,” he said.