This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of shareholder rights plans and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for a unique class of securities, i.e., the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) between 1988 and 2000. This research seeks to establish what form of management, ownership structure and financial characteristics are exhibited by REITs which adopted antitakeover amendments as well as determine their impact on REIT values and the market for corporate control. While merger and acquisition transactions involving public REITs have much in common with M&A transactions involving other public companies, the role of governance has not been explored in REITs for these transactions. This paper finds that while firm specific variables can differentiate between targets and acquirers, the role of the governance structure appears to be quite limited. In fact, REITs seem to be driven by firm level performance.

This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of shareholder rights plans and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for a unique class of securities, i.e., the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) between 1988 and 2000. This research seeks to establish what form of management, ownership structure and financial characteristics are exhibited by REITs which adopted antitakeover amendments as well as determine their impact on REIT values and the market for corporate control. While merger and acquisition transactions involving public REITs have much in common with M&A transactions involving other public companies, the role of governance has not been explored in REITs for these transactions. This paper finds that while firm specific variables can differentiate between targets and acquirers, the role of the governance structure appears to be quite limited. In fact, REITs seem to be driven by firm level performance.

“What determines bond ratings?” has been asked since 1860 when Henry V. Poor, of now Standard & Poors, released his first financial and operational analysis of the railroad industry and is still asked today. The determinants of bond rating studies date back to Fisher (1959) and single out various industries (railroad, manufacturing, industrial, and utility) but do not focus on REITs. REITs are different from other industries in various ways. Literature suggest differences between REITs and non-REIT industries including: the regulatory IRS restrictions regarding REITs, the uncertainty regarding the value of REITs, the number of uninformed investors is greater in the REIT market due to valuation uncertainty, REITs securities behave more like mutual fund securities than like industrial firm securities (Wang et al. (1992), (1995)), and the uncertainty about the value of real estate stocks is greater than that for stocks of industrial firms with operating assets, causing REIT advisors to complain that the stock market underestimates their real value more often than the real value of industrial firms (Hite, Owens, and Rodgers (1987)). This study analyzes the determinants of REIT debt ratings. The determinants are analyzed using ordered probit and multinomial logit regression models. The results of the ordered probit regression model reveal that REIT debt ratings are determined by similar financial characteristics used to analyze determinants for non-REIT industries. Similar to the findings in Horrigan (1966), the data also reveals that liquidity is not as significant to REIT debt ratings as S&P analyst claim. The multinomial logit resuts show that leverage, cash, size, interest coverage, and shareholders right plan are significant to downgrades. Overall, the findings presented here are consistent with non-REIT ratings literature.

This paper will assess the relationship between tenant characteristics and public REIT volatility. Specifically, we focus on the retail REIT subset of the industry. Given that retail REITs are one the most transparent asset classes, they provide an interesting landscape for evaluating the relationship between the firm and the customers, or in this case, the tenants. Specifically, we assess how major tenant ownership, public or private equity owned, impacts the volatility of the REIT’s stock price using 2010 data on 30 retail REITs. Controlling for tenant credit quality, leverage, ROE, book-to-market, size, age, region and property focus, we find that a higher percentage of rental revenue from private equity owned tenants is associated with lower REIT stock volatility, and a higher percentage of rental revenue from publicly owned tenants is associated with higher REIT stock volatility.

Dual asset markets are unique to real estate. When the assets are held by a real estate investment trust (REIT), properties trade in property markets while claims on cash flows from these assets trade in a public equity market. If the two parallel markets are in disagreement regarding the total market value of underlying assets, then REIT managers are faced with inter-market arbitrage opportunities. If a REIT’s shares trade at premium in the stock market relative to the net asset value (NAV) of the underlying assets, the arbitrage opportunity can be exploited by issuing new equity in the stock market and purchasing assets in the property market with the proceeds from new equity. If a REIT’s shares trade at a discount to NAV, the arbitrage opportunity is achieved by selling assets in the local property market and repurchasing shares of common equity. In this dissertation, I investigate whether REIT managers attempt to exploit such opportunities. Specifically, I identify whether share price premiums or discounts to NAV influence the propensity of REIT managers to purchase versus sell assets in the property market. In addition, I investigate whether the market-wide premiums to NAV influence the relative transaction prices paid for the property while carefully controlling for the sample selection issue in the analyses. Further, since this information is feasible to evaluate by analysts, I investigate how investors in the stock market react when REIT managers issue new equity during periods of premiums to NAV. The analyses use property level transaction data for commercial real estate asset values and stock price data for REITs.

As the result of the real estate bubble on 1990, the domestic real estate market is constantly sluggish which makes an impact on the development of relevant industries in Taiwan. In recent 15 years, the housing industry has been deeply impacted in particular. In order to stimulate the recovery of the real estate market and the development of economy, Taiwan government promoted many related projects in order to boost the prosperity of Real Estate industry. Such as ¡§Improving Real Estate Market Polices¡¨, ¡§Two-year Reduction Policy of Land Value Increment Tax to Half¡¨, release limitations on foreign ownership of Taiwan property ¡§Real Estate Appraisal regulation¡§¡§Certified Real Estate Registration Agent Code¡¨ Legislation of real estate management¡¨. Meanwhile ¡§The Conference of National Economy and development¡¨, ¡§A series of strengthen economy quality¡¨ and ¡§Economic Development Advisory Conference¡¨ have been convoked and recommended ¡§real estate securitization¡¨ might be the workable way. In 23rd July 2003 the Legislative Yuan passed the Real Estate Securitization Statute and Enforcement Rules of the Real Estate Securitization Statute. The purpose of the enactment was through securitization stimulating the real estate market and effectively developing real estate. Real estate securitization, by definition, the financing mechanism alters the investor¡¦s investment, from a direct investment to a securitized investment. The trust company issues securities over a portfolio of properties to raise fund from the capital market other than mortgage loans from banking system. The implementation of the real estate securitization can combine the real estate market with the capital market and effectively facilitate the development of real estate resources. These transactions have grown increasingly popular over time, providing the long-awaited fueling of the domestic real estate market. Therefore not only the real estate industry enables to utilize the funds raised from the general public, but also improves distressed government finance . By referring to the experience of the US and Japan , Taiwan Real Estate Securitization Statute was constructed by two kinds of Real Estate Securitization, the investment trust of real estate (REITs) and real estate assets trust (REATs). The Act being adopted from the Real Estate Investment Trust system of USA; and the Real Estate Asset Trust system of Japan. The real estate securitization has been brought into practice for over 3 years since implementation of Taiwan¡¦s Real Estate Securitization Statute. Till the end 2006, Financial Supervisory Commission ratified 15 cases of real estate securitized products, over NTD 69,694 million of real estate securities was issued. Among them, 7 cases regard REITs as the structure issues NTD 51,800 million which about 75% of total market share. The purpose of this study is to discuss the Development of Real Estate Investment Trust in Taiwan by analyzing and referring the current situations and relevant legal mechanisms in US and in Japan. Through real case study probes actual operation of REITs also gives suggestions for their prospective development and impacts. In addition, the research provides recommendation and valuable information to the current market and insights about the future development of Taiwan¡¦s REIT market.

Using a system of multi-step equations, I examine the association between online rental searches and fundamental apartment real estate market variables namely, vacancy rates, rental rates and real estate asset price returns. I find that consumer real estate searches are significantly associated with the market fundamentals after controlling for known determinants of these variables. In particular, I show that apartment rentals related online searches are endogenously and contemporaneously associated with reduced vacancy rate. However, the association between the searches and rental rates is not significantly detected. The searches are contemporaneously associated with positive return on the appraised values of multifamily assets. There is some evidence that the searches are fundamentally associated with REIT returns in the short run and that REIT investors watch the online search trends to inform their stock pricing decisions.

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Sweden's population is growing every year, and in parallel there is an ongoing adjustment of the trade and retail consumption, within the Nordic area. Today, the development of retail is combined with the development of grandeur shopping malls, with the purpose to attract crowds and retailers. These venues have long been essential for the commercial real estate development, both on a local and global perspective. USA and Western Europe have long been leaders in the development and the management of shopping malls. They have created new conditions, trends and possibilities for how a property owner can optimize the financial management and similar strategies. This Bachelor Thesis will study what global trends there are and in what grade these trends have affected the Swedish shopping mall market. By defining the Swedish shopping mall market, from other commercial real estates, we can review and analyse the trends and tendencies that have developed the traditional Swedish management. Moreover we will review why a foreign corporate, within ownership and management of shopping malls, would like to establish their organisation within the Swedish market. For this purpose, we will analyse the incentives and what prospects these corporates are having. We have succeeded to discover that the Swedish shopping mall market have done important changes during the last 10-15 years. There have been a distinct professionalisation of the financial management with a clear focus on emulating other foreign companies through IPO:s, minimizing the loan-to-value and having a stable dividend performance. Moreover the game rules have changed, for the Swedish retail market, due to newly developed international corporates that have established their business in Sweden. Therefore there are competing forces, between the global FDI: s and local Swedish corporates, with the most valuable locations. We have established the conclusion that many of the foreign shopping mall owners wants to expand their organisation on the Swedish market, due to clear incentives. This is for example due to a stable economic growth, transparency and the possibility to create relationships with lucrative retailers. Several Swedish companies are about to abandon the traditional Swedish management model as they become more focused on profit and economic growth, the priority is no longer just customer satisfaction and technical maintenance. Sweden has previously tried on popular global methods, without effect, but perhaps it is time to re-examine other variants of these strategies, as the Swedish market have become an attractive source of the global shopping center trade. / Sveriges befolkning växer för varje år och parallellt med detta sker en utveckling av handeln och retailkonsumtionen, i hela norden. Idag kombineras utvecklingen av detaljhandeln med storslagna köpcentrum och gallerior, för att locka till sig folkmassor och detaljister. Dessa handelsplatser har länge varit viktiga fastigheter inom samhällsbyggandet och stadsutvecklingen. USA och Västeuropa har länge varit ledande inom utveckling och förvaltning av köpcentrum genom att de har skapat nya villkor, trender och möjligheter för hur en fastighetsägare ska optimera den ekonomiska förvaltningen och andra dylika strategier. Denna kandidatuppsats kommer att studera vilka trender som finns och i vilken grad de har påverkat den svenska köpcentrummarknaden. Utifrån att avgränsa den svenska köpcentrummarknaden från andra kommersiella fastigheter, kan vi studera och analysera trender och tendenser, vilka håller på att utveckla den traditionella svenska förvaltningen. Utöver detta kommer vi undersöka varför utländska företag, inom ägande och förvaltning av köpcentrum, vill etablera sig på den svenska marknaden. Till detta ska vi analysera vilka incitament som finns och vilka framtidsutsikter dessa företag har. Vi har lyckats komma fram till att den svenska köpcentrummarknaden har gjort viktiga förändringar de senaste 10-15 åren. De har skapats en tydlig professionalisering av den ekonomiska förvaltningen för svenska företag med tydligt fokus på att efterlikna utländska aktörer genom att börsnotera företaget, försöka dämpa belåningsgraden och satsa på en stabil utdelningsfilosofi. Utöver detta har spelreglerna ändrat sig genom att större internationella företag har slagit rot på den svenska marknaden. Därmed konkurrerar de lokala respektive globala företagen, om de mest attraktiva platserna. Vi har kommit fram till att många utländska köpcentrumägare vill satsa på den svenska marknaden då det finns tydliga incitament för dessa att göra så. Denna utveckling beror till exempel på att det finns en stabil ekonomisk tillväxt, transparens på marknaden och bra möjligheter att skapa samarbeten med lönsamma detaljister. Flera svenska bolag håller på att överge den traditionella förvaltningsmodellen då dessa blir mer fokuserade på avkastning och tillväxt, de prioriterar inte längre enbart kundnöjdhet och tekniskt underhåll. Sverige har tidigare provat på populära globala metoder, utan verkan, men kanske är det dags att återpröva liknande varianter av dessa, då den svenska marknaden har blivit en attraktionskälla i den globala köpcentrumhandeln.

This paper examines the major potential drivers of five international real estate markets with a focus on pushing versus pulling effects. Using a quantile regression approach for the period 2000-2015 we examine the coefficients during three different market conditions: downward (bearish), normal (median) and upward (bullish). Using monthly data we look at five of the larger securitized property markets, namely, the US, UK, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. We find inconclusively that stock market volatility, as measured by the pushing factor VIXS&P500, best informs property market returns during bearish market environment. We also find that our pulling factors, money supply, treasury yields and unemployment presents theoretically grounded results in most cases with the expected signage. However, compared to the volatility index, pulling factors are not as uniformly suited for informing property market returns during bearish markets. We also find a range of insignificant results, which might be indicative of a suboptimal model specification and/or choice of estimation method.