Gazit-Globe Launches US Investment Subsidiary

By Gail Kalinoski

Jeffrey Mooallem, a 19-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry, has been chosen by global real estate company Gazit-Globe Ltd. to head up its new U.S. investment subsidiary, Gazit Horizons Inc., that will seek income-producing assets throughout the U.S.

Gazit Globe Horizons President & CEO Jeffrey Mooallem

Mooallem, most recently a managing director at Federal Realty Investment Trust, has been named president & CEO of the new subsidiary that will have offices in Miami and New York City. He previously held executive positions at privately held Turnberry Associates in Miami and Equity One, a shopping center REIT that had been owned by Tel Aviv-based Gazit-Globe until it merged with Regency Centers Corp. in early March, creating the largest U.S. shopping center REIT by equity value with a total market capitalization of $15.6 billion. Gazit-Globe sold 2.8 million shares of Regency in early March but still holds 19.5 million shares, which the company said represents 11.5 percent of the issued and outstanding share capital of Regency.

“With the recent merger of our former U.S. subsidiary, Equity One, Gazit-Globe’s business in the United States is now leveraged to a low level that makes additional U.S. investment compelling and accretive for our shareholders, while at the same time allowing us to use other sources of capital and cash flow to continue to pay down debt in Israel,” Gazit-Globe CEO Dori Segal said in a prepared statement. Segal, who had been the company’s executive vice chairman, took over as CEO on Feb. 1 from Rachel Lavine.

Gazit Horizons plans to target acquisitions in major metro markets and the growing urban cores of certain gateway cities. The company intends to focus on larger properties with mixed-use potential and value-add opportunities.

“With our collective experience and relationships in the industry, we are well positioned to acquire assets in some of the strongest and fastest growing markets in the country. We will utilize our experience and capital structure to acquire larger and more complicated assets across multiple product types, and create additional value through asset management, redevelopment and repurposing,” Mooallem said in a prepared statement.

“The chance to work with a company of Gazit’s stature and build a new investment platform in the United States is a special and unique opportunity,” Mooallem said, adding he looked “forward to building the best team and best portfolio possible to execute our strategic objectives.”

Segal said the new company will implement an investment strategy that is more typical of a private equity investor “but with a much longer time horizon using predominantly its own capital.”

Gazit-Global is an owner, developer and operator of high-quality, supermarket-anchored retail properties in urban markets. It owns and operates 426 properties in more than 20 countries with a gross leasable area of approximately 71 million square feet and a total value about $22 billion.