Activist hedge fund Snow Park builds stake in Cedar Realty Trust
Cedar has been shifting out of non-core retail assets such as shopping malls to focus on grocery anchored strip malls
Snow Park Capital Partners LP has built a stake in retail-focused real estate investment trust Cedar Realty Trust Inc and is urging it to explore strategic options, including a potential sale, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Talks between Snow Park, an activist hedge fund, and Cedar were at an early stage, and it was unclear if Cedar will decide to conduct a strategic review or consider a challenge to the company’s board, the sources said last week.
The sources requested anonymity because the matter is not public. Cedar and Snow Park did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under new management since 2011, Cedar has been shifting out of non-core retail assets such as shopping malls to focus on grocery anchored strip malls.
As many prominent retailers went bankrupt during the sector’s downturn over the past year, Cedar’s stock has fallen from highs of more than US$8 in mid-2016 to less than US$6 in recent months.
“We still struggle to reconcile the negative sentiment in the news media and among investors on account of the secular changes in retailing with the progress we continue to make,” Chief Executive Bruce Schanzer said during the company’s earnings call in August.
We still struggle to reconcile the negative sentiment in the news media and among investors on account of the secular changes in retailing with the progress we continue to make