Just four months after putting itself up for sale, Pure Multi-Family REIT is taking itself off the market.
Following an unsuccessful courtship process with 86 potential buyers, the Canadian real estate investment trust, which invests in institutional quality U.S. multifamily real estate assets, is embracing the solo life, for now.
This whole drama started in December of Last year when Electra America, a multifamily company that owns and operates multifamily communities throughout the U.S. and is a subsidiary of the Tel-Aviv-based Electra Group, offered to purchase all of Pure Multi-Family REIT’s Class-A units at $7.54 per unit.
Pure turned this offer down; Electra revised the offer to $7.59 per unit; and Pure turned that offer down as well.
Curious about its prospects, Pure put itself out there for the rest of the world and contacted 86 potential buyers about acquiring the company.
Out of the 86 potential buyers, two dozen expressed real interest and were granted access to Pure’s data cache under non-disclosure agreements.
From there the pool of eligible suitors was pared down to two, but because of Electra’s initial offers, the “floor” was set at about $7.59 per unit and the suitors were unwilling to go much higher than that. The highest offer Pure got was $7.71 per unit, but that wasn't high enough to meet Pure's liking.
According to Pure, its perceived market value also suffered because there were a number of multifamily portfolios in excess of $1 billion on the market at the same time and there were some stories circulating along with unit holder activity that may have caused uncertainty among the bidders.
Obviously, this is not the outcome Pure wanted, but, is the company's decision to come off the market a decision to go down with the ship or is the multifamily market sweet enough that Pure sees smooth sailing ahead?
Usually, if a company were in real trouble and in a hurry to sell, that would be reflected in a race to the bottom on the price.
The company does appear to be hurting, though. The company took a 20% tumble in net income in first two quarters of this year compared to the first half of last year.
So, is Pure stalling in hopes of a better sale price, perhaps intending to go back on the market when it is less crowded and the memory of its old “floor” fades? Or is it hoping that it can ride strong multifamily fundamentals back to health?
Either way, it will be interesting to watch Pure’s trajectory and how it navigates these choppy waters.
