Real-Estate Firms Dips Toes in IPO Pool; After Slow Start This Year, Improving Outlook in Housing and Other Sectors Prompts Firms to Consider Public Offerings
The market for initial public offerings by real-estate companies has been grim this year, but that might be about to change.</br></br>Some companies are moving to capitalize on the hottest real-estate sectors, as well as the early signs that the housing market, at long last, may be poised for a rebound.</br></br>On Wednesday, Spirit Realty Finance Inc., a company that leases property to retail chains like Shopko Stores, AMC Theatres and Applebee's, hopes to raise as much as $487 million in an IPO. It would be the largest IPO of a real-estate investment trust, or REIT, since May 2011, according to Dealogic.</br></br>Other companies are waiting in the wings. The parent of Realogy Corp., which owns Century 21, Coldwell Banker and other leading residential brands, wants to raise as much as $1 billion in an IPO and could launch its deal over the next few weeks, according to people familiar with its plans.</br></br>Meanwhile, in what would be one of the largest real-estate IPOs, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has filed with regulators to take apartment giant Archstone public. Apartment buildings have been one of the hottest property types in the past two years thanks to strong demand for rentals.