This newsletter was originally published on substack on August 17, 2025.
There’s quite a bit happening in the North American REIT space. NYSE:SITC, NYSE:AIV, NYSE:NLOP and TSE:ERE.UN have all announced capital returns or special dividends. You also have NYSE:ELME selling assets and liquidating. It’s always nice to get some cash back to reinvest into that same situation or a new opportunity.
Important Note: These watchlists are not buy signals, buy pitches or recommendations to purchase shares. The purpose is to inform you of opportunities and to give you a paragraph profile of the situation. Some of these opportunities might be actionable now, in the future or never. Please do your own research.
Liquidations
Cambria Africa (JPJ:CMB) is an investment company that owns real estate, listed securities and payments businesses in Zimbabwe. They also have cash outside Zimbabwe at the holding level. CMB used to trade on the AIM market but delisted in October 2024. They now trade on JP Jenkins (JPJ) via a matched bargain facility. Here is a list of brokers that allow trading on JPJ. CMB is in the process of realising assets and returning cash to shareholders. In January they returned £0.0042 via a 50% share redemption. Due to the political and economic instability of Zimbabwe the payments businesses have been impaired. The last unaudited NAV at 28 February 2024 was $6.1m USD. Adjusted for the capital return this comes to £0.0082. Management believes realisable NAV could be $7.2m/£0.011. The last traded price on JPJ was £0.0045. So it’s still trading at a hefty discount. The company is selling an office property & listed shares. Using company figures, these could be worth £0.0067 per share. The rest of NAV is legacy debts owed to CMB by the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank and goodwill associated with the payments businesses. This is a high risk but interesting situation. NAV £0.0082 (reported NAV adjusted for cap return). Timeframe 3 years.
Franklin Street Properties (NYSEAMERICA:FSP) owns urban and CBD office properties. The portfolio consists of 4.8 million sq ft in Dallas, Denver, Houston and Minneapolis. I’ve had FSP on my list for a while. This short write up by Clark Street Value (who also writes about special sits & liquidations) jogged my memory to profile it. In May the company officially announced a strategic review which could include the sale of assets or the company. FSP has been selling off properties since 2020. They have also stopped doing quarterly earnings calls. This could be a sign of a sale or transaction. With a market cap of $165m, it’s a high likelihood that a wind down or transaction occurs in the near to medium term. Key drivers of this situation is the office market in the Sunbelt, which is tied to the Oil & Gas sector. The portfolio is also only 70% leased. The company has said they’re encouraged by prospective leasing activity. Book value is $6.03, however this is likely massively overstated. To get an accurate liquidation value, an asset by asset valuation needs to be done. NAV $6.03 (reported book value). Timeframe 2 years.
NAXS AB (STO:NAXS) is a Nordic focused investment fund. 65% of assets are in 12 private equity funds. 8 of them are post 2020 vintage. This amounts to 47.4 SEK per share. They also hold 19 SEK in cash, 3.6 SEK in listed securities and 2.4 SEK in private investments. On Wednesday they announced they would put a vote to shareholders to start an orderly liquidation and pay a 16 SEK special dividend. They mentioned not being able to deploy their cash and the discount to NAV as reasons for winding up. Key drivers of this situation are appetite for secondary sales of private equity funds and/or the timing of when those funds wind up. As 8/12 of them are post 2020 vintage, they could be difficult to offload. Pre announcement this was trading at a 26% discount to NAV. I don’t think this was that wide considering the state of the PE market. Now its trading at a 11% discount which is too small considering the timeframe to liquidate and nature of their assets. The company did say they have received expressions of interest for certain assets. NAV 73 SEK (reported). Timeframe 7 years.
Hydrogen Capital Growth (LON:HGEN) is an investment fund focused on private hydrogen and hydrogen related assets across Western Europe. HGEN was set up in 2021 with the backing of INEOS. 68% of the portfolio is in supply chain assets. Last month the board announced a managed wind down and change of investment adviser. They said there would be an independent reassessment of NAV. The company is also short of cash unless they do a secondary sale of an asset. The key drivers to this are what the hydrogen assets are actually worth, cash flow and timeframe to realise. I think this sector is very speculative and its an unproven industry. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a write down in valuations from the independent reassessment (similar to LON:DGI9). This is trading at a 70% discount to NAV so clearly the market does not believe current portfolio value. NAV £0.89 (reported). Timeframe 5 years.
Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) is a value oriented multi-family apartment owner in the Washington, DC and Atlanta metro areas. They own 9,400 residential units and 300k sq ft of commercial space. They recently announced the sale of 19 residential assets for $1.6b. They will sell the remaining 9 assets and their DC commercial complex- Watergate 600. After this they will liquidate. Key drivers of this are the appetite for office and Class B multi-family in DC and Atlanta. DC could be a tricky market with government cuts reducing demand. The board has put a 12 month timeframe on the sell down with estimated distributions of $17.58 to $18.50. At current prices I do not see much value here. However, having this on your watchlist over the next year could present a nice opportunity. NAV $18 (mid range of mgmt est distributions). Timeframe 1.5 years.
Eaton Vance California Municipal Bond Fund (NYSEAMERICAN:EVM) and Eaton Vance New York Municipal Bond Fund (NYSEAMERICAN:ENX) are municipal bond funds focused on providing income that is exempt from Federal Income Tax. Due to pressure from activist Saba, the board announced they will put a liquidation vote to shareholders in September. Key drivers of this situation are investors appetite to wind up and if you can pick it up at a worthwhile discount. Both funds have <$250m in net assets and so I’d say odds are high these get liquidated. With this type of situation, watch for a widening discount for an entry. EVM NAV $9.16 (reported). ENX NAV $9.60 (reported). Timeframe 3 months.
VH Global Energy Infrastructure (LON:ENRG) is an investment fund that invests in sustainable energy infrastructure assets. The portfolio consists of solar, onshore wind, hydro facilities, terminal storage, battery storage and gas with carbon capture storage. 30% of the portfolio is in construction and the rest is operational. In May they announced an asset realisation strategy and indicated a 3 year wind up timeframe. Key drivers are the liquidity and market conditions for green energy assets. Also if they can sell the assets at NAV (currently trading at a 32% discount). Compared to quite a few other funds in this space gearing is only 7%. I’ve mentioned previously there seems to be a recovery and more interest in this sector. However the only thing that matters in liquidations is what assets transact at and not what they’re marked at. Personally I’m ambivalent to these situations. I can see opportunity but I’m not confident on valuing the assets. Someone with knowledge in this area might be able to pick out some winners. NAV £1 (reported). Timeframe 4 years.
Potential Liquidations
New Zealand Rural Land Company (NZE:NZL) is an investment company that owns rural land in New Zealand. It buys properties and then leases them out to tenants on CPI rents. The portfolio consists of horticulture, forestry and pastoral assets. Earlier this month the board announced a “capital review of its strategic options” which is due by 31 December. The company said “NZL has been listed for up to 5 years. In that time the company has made strong progress in growing its asset and earnings quality and size. That has not been reflected in the share price. The Board considers that the full range of strategic options on the capital structure require review and input from shareholders.”. Since IPO in 2021, the company has consistently traded at a discount to NAV and is currently at a 37% discount. Although I don’t see a liquidation as a high probability, I do consider it an option. In early 2024 they sold 25% of the portfolio to an Australian fund manager and moved the assets into a LP. So there’s a possibility of a similar transaction with a return to shareholders. NAV $1.60 (reported).
Bellevue Healthcare Trust (LON:BBH) invests in a concentrated portfolio of global healthcare companies. Last week they announced a strategic review due to the continued under performance and size of the company (£162m market cap). This is due to conclude in Q42025 with all options on the table. The aim is to improve performance or otherwise achieve value for shareholders. Saba has a 14% stake in the fund. Due to its small size, a merger or wind up could be an option. NAV £1.18 (reported).
Previously Mentioned
Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) was first mentioned up in Watchlist #1. They recently announced the sale of 5 properties in Boston for net proceeds of $485m. They also announced a $4.00 – $4.20 per share distribution from proceeds of the Boston and Brickell sale. The dividend represents 51% of market cap. I’ve had AIV down as a potential liquidation but it’s pretty clear they are liquidating without management officially announcing it. I figure this is to avoid having to give the impression of forced sales. The stock is down over 10% since the announcement of the Boston sale. This partially could be due to the 6.5% cap rate on the Boston sale being higher than expected. AIV looks interesting at these levels.
European Residential REIT (TSE:ERE.UN) was previously mentioned in Watchlist #3. They recently sold two commercial properties and a residential property for gross proceeds of EUR 52.8m. They are paying a special dividend of EUR 0.90 (CAD $1.44) with an ex date of 22nd September. This is 58% of market cap. Like AIV, ERE has sold off recently. Q2 Reported NAV was CAD $2.95. If you discount that by 10%, they wind up in the next year and you pick shares around $2.40, you could get a 10%+ return. If they get closer to NAV you could get a potential 15-20% return from here.
Site Centers Corp (NYSE:SITC) I recently profiled them in Watchlist #10. They have announced the sale of a shopping centre in Florida and Phoenix for $200m in gross proceeds. They also announced a $3.25 dividend with an ex date of 2nd September. You should check out Brian’s Substack write up on them. It’s a good overview of the situation. He approaches it from a “how do I lose money on this” angle. I think this is the right way to look at liquidations. SITC looks interesting on a pullback.
Conclusion
That’s all for this week. I’d appreciate any feedback on what I’m doing. Is there anything I could do better or change? What would you like to see?
Thanks.
Disclaimer: The content in this write-up is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or investment advice All opinions expressed are my own. Please do your own research or consult with a professional before making any investment decisions.
Disclosure: I, or members of my family, hold shares in NYSE:AIV, TSE:ERE.UN, NYSE:SITC and could potentially hold shares in any of the mentioned companies in the future.
Note: NAV is reported NAV, book value, my estimate or another disclosed value. Timeframe is based on management or my estimate. Both could change. NAV is not necessarily the figure you will receive in a liquidation.
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