The Real Estate M&A and Private Equity Review, 4th Ed. (Chapter 25 United States)

Abstract

This publication is a multinational guide for understanding and navigating the increasingly complex and dynamic world of liquid real estate and the transactions that mostly produce it. The sea change in the markets, sometimes called the ‘REIT Revolution’, has meant that major real estate transactions have migrated from ‘Main Street’ to ‘Wall Street’. They now often take the form of mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, spin-offs and other corporate transactions conducted in the public markets for both equity and debt. They have grown exponentially in complexity and sophistication, and increasingly represent cross-border multinational transactions fuelled by the now global real estate capital markets and M&A deal professionals. And they are often intermediated by international investment banks rather than local brokers, and financed with unsecured bonds or commercial mortgage-backed securities. In a fair number of cases they are catalysed by private equity firms or similar actors, sometimes building portfolios to be taken public or sold to public real estate companies, and sometimes through buyouts of public real estate companies for repositioning or sale.

To create this publication, we have invited leading practitioners from around the globe to offer practical insights into what is going on around the conference tables and in the markets in their jurisdiction, with an eye to cross-border trends and transactions. As will quickly become evident, the process of liquefying real estate and the transactions involving public real estate companies require a melding of the legal principles, deal structures, cultures and financial models of traditional real estate, public company M&A and private equity. None of this, of course, happens in a vacuum, and transactions often require expertise in tax, corporate and real estate law, not to mention securities laws and global capital markets. Each of our distinguished authors touches on these disciplines.

Keywords: REITs, Real Estate M&A, Real Estate Private Equity, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Cross Border Transactions, International, Global, Mergers, Acquisitions

JEL Classification: K00, K22, K33