By now it is well known that the shopping mall industry faces a difficult, generational transition. Changing consumer preferences and the Amazon effect are profound. Many malls face existential crises; we even witnessed the launch of two Death-of-the-Mall ETFs earlier this year (EMTY and CLIX), which are long e-tailers and short mall-based retailers. However, some mall operators will not only survive, but actually offer compelling investment opportunities.
In our view, the equity risk/reward is favorable for several top mall REIT operators — our basket of mall-based Real Estate Investment Trusts (“Mall RATs”), and we are