REITs & Real Estate M&A

Connecting real estate and Wall Street

Our REITs & Real Estate M&A team represents clients across the REITs lifecycle, and advises clients on public and private M&A transactions of all types in the real estate sector. That includes representing issuers, sponsors, and investment banks on debt and equity capital market transactions; REITs on the full spectrum of public company concerns; and buyers and sellers on public and private deals of all kinds.

Our public REITs practice is one of the most respected and experienced in the world. Goodwin lawyers helped draft the Real Estate Investment Trust Act of 1960. In 1992, we helped pioneer the first public listing of a REIT in the “UPREIT” structure, ushering in the modern REIT era. And our team handled the largest ever REIT IPO, totaling $2.3 billion, as well as the second largest, totaling $1.8 billion.

Our cross-disciplinary capabilities also set us apart, enabling a “cover the waterfront” approach to public-company REITs representations that includes corporate governance, activist defense, securities offerings, SEC reporting and compliance, executive compensation, securities litigation, and boardroom counseling.

Connect with our REITs & Real Estate M&A team and let us know how we can help.

Areas of Focus

We advise clients on M&A transactions of all types in the real estate sector, including large-scale strategic public company M&A in all asset classes, buy-side and sell-side leveraged buyouts, management-led buyouts, strategic large-scale portfolio acquisitions, and special committee representations. We were involved on the buy or sell side in six of the seven largest multifamily strategic public REIT M&A transactions in the US.

To form a public REIT and execute a successful IPO, it is often necessary to combine multiple private investment vehicles via a complex roll-up transaction. We bring the necessary depth of experience across areas such as securities, M&A, real estate, and tax to help REIT clients transition from private to public.

We represent public REITs on transactions and material events of all kinds, including raising capital through debt and equity capital markets, public listings on security exchanges, corporate governance and executive compensation matters, and disclosure and regulatory compliance.

Established public companies often seek to unlock value through REIT conversions, business line spin-offs, or capital infusions from private institutional or retail sources. We help clients structure and execute these types of technically complex transactions, which often require a cross-disciplinary approach.

REITs often grow or recycle capital through strategic portfolio transactions. We leverage the breadth and depth of our expertise in real estate to assist REITs with tax-structured OP unit exchanges; joint ventures with sovereign wealth funds, pension plans, endowments, and other capital allocators around the world; and sophisticated portfolio acquisitions.