Our latest On point. focuses on real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). Established in 1960, REITs were designed to democratize real estate investing by providing retail investors with the opportunity to obtain passive gains from large-scale, income-producing real estate and mortgage portfolios. REITs typically receive preferential tax treatment in the form of no entity-level tax and
REITs
PLI Webinar: REITs and REIT Offerings
February 26, 2020
1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Click here to register
This one hour online presentation will provide attendees with a broad yet focused educational program that presents a clear picture of legal, regulatory and tax considerations for real estate investment trusts (REITs). Mayer Brown partner Thomas Humphreys and counsel Brian Hirshberg will cover…
Legal Update: Could the US Government’s Financial Stability Oversight Council Subject the Residential Mortgage Industry or Mortgage REITs to Supervision by the Federal Reserve and Prudential Standards?
Nonbank financial companies, including residential mortgage real estate investment trusts (“mortgage REITs”), have expressed concern that nonbank residential mortgage lenders, servicers and purchasers might be subject to enhanced regulatory scrutiny and prudential standards by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (the “Council”) or increased state and federal regulation to head off action by the Council. Indeed,…
Survey of Recent SEC Comment Letters to Mortgage REITs
In recent years, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has been providing comments regarding companies’ presentations of non-GAAP financial measures in public filings. Working with Audit Analytics, we surveyed SEC Staff comment letters provided to mortgage real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) in 2018 and 2017 and observed a significant increase in…
Securities and Exchange Commission Continues to Comment on Non-GAAP Financial Measures Used by REITs
In recent years, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has been providing comments regarding companies’ presentations of non-GAAP financial measures in public filings. We surveyed and discussed the non-GAAP comments issued by the Staff to REITs, which can be found here. In the period since the publication of the survey,…
2019 REIT IPO Market Update
Global REIT IPOs decreased dramatically – down 47 percent – from 49 REIT IPOs in 2017 to 26 REIT IPOs in 2018. This decrease reflects a difficult capital-raising market, with pressures from rising interest rates and a softening real estate market in the United States, and signals changes in future REIT fundraising activities.
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SEC Office of Small Business Updates
At the Practising Law Institute’s Annual Institute on Securities Regulation, a number of updates were provided by the Staff regarding ongoing initiatives within the Office of Small Business. The Staff reviewed the recently adopted amendments to the definition of “smaller reporting company” (SRC) and directed practitioners to its Small Entity Compliance Guide. The Staff …
House Act Would Expand Investment Opportunities for REITs
On September 6, 2018, House Committee on Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling and Representative John Delaney released a discussion draft of the Bipartisan Housing Finance Reform Act (the “Act”). The Act would require eligible private credit enhancers (as approved by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, “PCEs”) to engage in approved credit risk transfer transactions. PCEs…
On point. – Non-GAAP Financial Measures Used by REITs: Frequent SEC Comments
Counsel Brian Hirshberg examines some of the issues raised in comment letters issued by the SEC staff to real estate investment trusts regarding their use of financial measures not presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in a recently published On point.
Improved Corporate Governance as a Result of Listing
A paper titled, “The Impact of Exchange Listing on Corporate Governance Evidence from Direct Listing,” written by Dan French, Andrew Kern, Thibaut Morillon, and Adam Yore, considers the impact on corporate governance policies attributable to the listing of a class of securities on a national securities exchange. The authors focus on direct listings…