Jim,
Of course, Mr. Cates retired as of 10/01. The new CEO, Eric Bolton, is his hand-picked successor, and I only hope that he turns out to be 1/2 as good as Cates.
I've talked to him, and he seems good, though, of course, not nearly as seasoned.
But he clearly is a straight-shooter, like his predecessor.
As you probably recall, the market took down most, if not all, preferreds as a result of the Walden deal, as the apparent weakness in the preferreds was exposed.
I still fear that if another hostile
LBO deal comes along against any REIT, where they try to similarly screw the preferred
shareholders, then all preferreds could tank again. That makes them, ironically,
almost more risky, in some respects, than common shares, because the event risk I worry about in the preferreds can come from a bad deal in any other REIT, whereas, event risk in the common would more likely be specific to the company itself.
Just something else to factor in.
Good luck. |
