Can Activist Fund Corvex Save American Realty?

Corvex Management reported in its filing that it had acquired roughly 64.7 million shares, including stock underlying call options. Corvex paid $71.1 million for the owned shares and approximately $158.1 million for the call options.

The real estate investment trust (REIT) had fallen on rough times when it announced in late October that its financial statements dating back to 2013 could no longer be relied on. In fact, we even included it as a company that may have permanently damaged its prospects ahead. More recently, the company has been in the limelight for a lawsuit filed by former chief accounting executive Lisa McAlister against the former chief executive officer Nicholas Schorsch.

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In a press release from American Realty, the company commented on the acquisition:

The ARCP Board of Directors is pleased that Corvex shares its belief that ARCP is an attractive investment. ARCP has had constructive conversations with Corvex and appreciates its support of the actions the Board has taken to date. The Board will continue to prioritize transparency and an open dialogue with all stockholders, as well as the best path forward for the Company and its employees, as it seeks to stabilize and strengthen ARCP.

The reality is that this news story continues to become ever more complicated. It also seems to be a case in which there are more unknown issues than there are known facts. Put simply, the American Realty Capital Properties is becoming an ever harder situation to analyze from the outside, even as activists jump in.

It is also worth noting that until the company delivers its 2013 and 2014 financial statements and related documents, neither it nor its operating partnership will pay any dividends or make any other restricted payment on common equity. Once the financial filings are completed, the company will reconsider reinstating its dividend. At the beginning of this ordeal, the company had stated that the current year dividend would not be affected by these accounting irregularities.

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Shares of American Realty were up over 7% at $9.12 just after Monday’s open. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $9.67 and a 52-week trading range of $7.38 to $14.96. The market cap is over $7 billion.