Activist Investor Land & Buildings Targets Two More Companies

Land & Buildings, an activist investor with a penchant for sending open letters to companies it invests in, launched two more.

One went to the Ventas board of directors, “detailing Land & Buildings’ continued dissatisfaction with the Company’s long-term underperformance and undervaluation,” as the firm claimed in a press release.

The other occurred on April 18. A letter to Aimco’s board said that Land & Business had “grown increasingly concerned about the Company’s continued failure to act with urgency in exploring ways to maximize value for shareholders” and urged the company to consider all possible strategies, including a sale.

Land & Buildings has a history of addressing companies, sometimes starting privately but then escalating into public confrontations.

In February 2022, the firm wanted to buy LXP Industrial Trust. In its letter to LXP, the company said it would prefer a merger agreement. “We believe our proposal represents the best means for stockholders of LXP to maximize the value of their shares,” wrote founder and CIO Jonathan Litt.

Between March and April of last year, Land & Buildings first announced that it would nominate its own candidate for a board position at American Homes 4 Rent. Then, the company said it had “concerns around the company’s failure to adopt any significant environmentally friendly home policies and its intention to vote against the re-election of all members of the Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee at the upcoming 2022 Annual Meeting.”

Also in March 2022, Land & Buildings first targeted Ventas. In a press release that includes a letter the company is sending to other shareholders, Land & Buildings claimed that “total shareholder returns and earnings growth have significantly underperformed its closest peer over the past 10, 5, 3 and 1-year periods” and further said it “believes Ventas’ bad faith engagement with Land & Buildings underscores the need for change at the board level.”

And then in December, after a month’s long effort leading up to the annual stockholder meeting of Apartment Investment and Management Company, or Aimco, activist Land & Buildings saw partial success in its attempt to place directors on the former’s board.

Currently, Land & Buildings has told Aimco that it “must run a full public strategic review process to evaluate all potential alternatives – including a sale – to deliver value for shareholders.” The firm also wrote, “It is our understanding that Morgan Stanley has been retained by the Company and we encourage the Board to make full use of this resource,” which makes it sound like it was urging Aimco to do something that it might have been already undertaking.

As for the latest letter of Ventas, Land & Buildings said the board needed to “refresh the investment committee” with independent members, “revamping” investor communications, improve margins on senior housing, and “refreshing the Board and bolstering senior leadership.”