Adam Emmerich, partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, participated in a video interview during REITwise 2022: Nareit’s Law, Accounting & Finance Conference held in Orlando, Florida on March 23-25.
Emmerich addressed last year’s “banner” REIT M&A activity, noting that “the intensity, the velocity, the diversity of transactions, [and] the availability of capital” was surprising following 2020.
Emmerich also said that REIT boards should prepare for activists in the current market, but that not every activist situation is war.
“Activists are a part of the landscape, [but] there’s a range of what constitutes activism,” he noted.
Turning to environmental, social, and governance issues as they relate to REIT M&A considerations, Emmerich said that every company is obligated to lean in and understand where they stand on ESG matters.