Jeff Edison, chairman and CEO of Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. (Nasdaq: PECO), joined the REIT Report to celebrate 65 years of REITs. He noted how the REIT structure has allowed PECO to efficiently raise capital in both the retail and institutional markets, enabling it to pursue aggressive growth and become one of the largest owners and operators of grocery-anchored shopping centers today.
PECO was founded in 1991 and operated as a public non-listed REIT before its IPO in 2021.
Edison noted that the REIT structure has made investing in real estate accessible to everyone. “PECO's investors can own the best necessity-based grocery and shopping centers across growing suburbs in the market... and our retail investors can invest alongside some of the biggest institutional investors in the world,” Edison said. Today, retail investors own about 25% of the REIT’s common shares, which is much higher than its peer average, he added.
“With our investor support, we can continue to provide them with strong high quality cash flows and market leading growth,” Edison said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Edison discussed the role of REITs and PECO in creating long-term community value, key opportunities and challenges for grocery-anchored centers, the alignment of tenants with evolving consumer preferences, how PECO is approaching capital allocation, and more.