NEW YORK CITY-Signaling the company’s expansion into the American market, Gazit-Globe, a Tel Aviv-based owner/operator of supermarket anchored shopping centers, is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘GZT’ after closing its US initial public offering.
In celebration of the company’s listing, Gazit officials rang the opening bell at the NYSE on Feb. 22. “It’s really about the company becoming a global entity,” Chaim Katzman, chairman of Gazit-Globe tells GlobeSt.com, a week after the listing went public. “We want to have more exposure to investors on a broader base, and this is why we are listing in New York City.”
The company, which has been listed on the Israeli Stock Exchange for several years, operates and manages more than 660 properties in over 20 countries around the world. With 75 million square feet of space in its global portfolio, Katzman says the company has been targeting high-traffic retail areas on the West Coast and the Northeast in the United States. “Historically, we have also had a very strong presence in South Florida,” he says. “That’s another target market for us.”
Katzman, also the founder of retail REIT Equity One, says Gazit also has plans to expand in Central Europe and the Nordic region. “It is not just the US, even though the US represents 55% of our business,” he says.
After its IPO closed in December, Gazit’s US offering issued 10.35 million shares at a price of $9 per share--and the company is planning for more retail growth in America. “It just really celebrates a successful listing on the New York Stock Exchange, which is the primary exchange in the world,” Katzman says. “Hopefully this will give us more access to a broader base of investors so we can present our case to them and hopefully convince them that we have a compelling story.”
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