NEW YORK CITY—It's shaping up to be a red-letter day for stock sales in commercial real estate. CBS Corp. said Wednesday it would sell off its 81% ownership in CBS Outdoor Americas Inc., after which the outdoor advertising company would convert to a REIT. Separately, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. on Wednesday filed to sell 90 million shares of Hilton stock currently under the control of the Blackstone Group, which took the hotel operator public last fall. It's the third announcement of a stock sale by a Blackstone-controlled CRE company in as many weeks.

The CBS Outdoor split-off will take the form of an exchange, in which CBS shareholders can exchange class A or B common stock for shares of CBS Outdoor common stock at a 7% discount. The exchange, which would total 97 million shares, is expected to take place over a three-day period beginning July 7. CBS Outdoor held its IPO in late March, in a stock offering that valued it at about $3.36 billion.

“CBS has been a great owner for many years, but as a wholly independent company, we believe we can take CBS Outdoor to new heights,” says Jeremy Male, CEO of CBS Outdoor. “Our expected REIT conversion is an opportunity to create additional long-term value for our shareholders. We're very excited about our future.”

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Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.