Yoel Kranz

Yoel Kranz is co-chair of Goodwin’s REITs & Real Estate M&A practice. For more than 25 years, Yoel has served as ongoing corporate and securities counsel to a diverse group of public companies, including numerous publicly traded REITs. His practice focuses on strategic corporate counseling, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, corporate governance, securities law compliance, and commercial transactions. Representative clients include Medical Properties Trust, Gaming and Leisure Properties, Acadia Realty Trust, Urban Edge Properties, The Regents of the University of California, Saul Centers, and Phillips Edison & Company.

Yoel’s representative experience includes:

• Advised The Regents of the University of California in connection with its $4.5 billion investment in Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust and related strategic alliance with Blackstone Inc. 
• Advised Gaming and Leisure Properties on numerous strategic acquisitions, development financings, and sale-leaseback transactions, including its $1.81 billion acquisition of the real estate assets of Live! Casino & Hotel properties in Maryland, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh from The Cordish Companies, its $1.19 billion investment in Bally’s Chicago Casino Resort, its acquisitions of Bally’s Kansas City and Bally’s Shreveport Casino & Hotel, and its innovative real estate arrangements supporting the relocation of Major League Baseball’s Athletics to Las Vegas.
• Advised Medical Properties Trust in its $2.7 billion dual-tranche global offering of senior secured notes, consisting of $1.5 billion of US dollar-denominated notes and €1.0 billion of euro-denominated notes, secured by a portfolio of healthcare real estate assets across the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, and related amendments to its senior credit facilities.
• Advised Gaming and Leisure Properties on multiple debt and equity capital markets transactions, including public offerings of senior unsecured notes totaling more than $3 billion, including a $1.3 billion dual-tranche offering of 5.250% senior notes due 2033 and 5.750% senior notes due 2037, and financings supporting the company’s strategic acquisition and development initiatives. 
• Represented Cedar Realty Trust in its $1.2 billion sale to affiliates of DRA Advisors, followed by its merger with Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust.
• Represented the lead underwriters in the $580 million initial public offering of Phillips Edison & Company and its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, followed by multiple equity offerings and $700 million in public debt offerings. 
• Advised Acadia Realty Trust on multiple corporate governance and capital markets matters, including its $500 million at-the-market equity offering program, approximately $200 million forward equity offering, and significant credit facility financings. 
• Represented Medical Properties Trust in its acquisition of a £1.5 billion portfolio of 30 acute care hospitals in the United Kingdom and its €1.6 billion joint venture with Primonial Group involving German healthcare assets. 
• Represented Empire State Realty Trust in multiple strategic transactions, including the $620 million acquisition of a 9.9% interest by an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority.

Yoel has served on the adjunct faculty of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School and as a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School. He also serves as a guest lecturer at Tel Aviv University Law School, where he teaches US mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Yoel was a corporate associate in the New York and London offices of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

Yoel is recognized by Legal 500 as a “Leading Partner” for his work in REITs. He has also been ranked by Chambers USA for his work in REITs.

• “Shareholder Activism in the REIT Sector: An Evolving Landscape,” Goodwin Alert, June 2025
• “Corporate Governance Trends in the Public REIT Sector: A 2026 Update,” Goodwin Alert, February 2026
• “Shareholder Activism in the Public REIT Sector: A Lookback at 2025 and What to Expect for 2026,” Goodwin Alert, January 2026
• “Derivatives for REITs: Managing Risks and Rewards,” Goodwin Alert, November 2025
• “Senior Credit Facilities for REIT Borrowers: Market Overview and Outlook,” Goodwin Alert, September 2025
• “Unlocking the UPREIT Structure: OP Unit Transactions for REITs,” Goodwin Alert, September 2025
• “Joint Ventures for Public REITs: Opportunities and Challenges,” Goodwin Alert, June 2025 
• “Shareholder Activism in the REIT Sector: An Evolving Landscape,” Goodwin Alert, June 2025
• “Recent Developments in the Use of “At-the-Market” Offering Programs by REITs,” Goodwin Alert, May 2025
• “Trends in REIT M&A (2022-2023),” Goodwin Insights, October 2023
• “Blind Pool REIT IPOs: Real Estate Sponsors Are Getting Ready To Jump Back In,” Goodwin Alert, September 2023
• “REIT Disclosure Requirements When Acquiring or Disposing of Real Estate Operations,” The Real Estate Finance Journal, April 28, 2023 
• “A Better Liquidity Feature for Non-Traded REITs: Share Repurchase Plans and the Next Frontier,” Goodwin Insights, February 2023
• “Trends in REIT M&A (2022-2023),” Goodwin Alert, October 2023
• “Blind Pool REIT IPOs: Real Estate Sponsors Are Getting Ready To Jump Back In,” Goodwin Alert, September 2023
• “REIT Disclosure Requirements When Acquiring or Disposing of Real Estate Operations,” Goodwin Alert, November 2022
• “REIT M&A Trends Through the Pandemic (2020-2022),” Goodwin Alert, June 2022
• “SEC’s Proposals to Modernize Beneficial Ownership Reporting May Complicate Enforcement of REIT Charter Ownership Limitations,” Goodwin Alert, May 2022
• “Update: Further Trends in REIT M+A (2019-2021),” Goodwin Alert, March 2021