Activist investor pushes for big changes for owner of International Plaza
By Steph Kukuljan
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 20, 2016

An activist investor is urging the company with a majority ownership stake in International Plaza to consider selling the company or privatizing it due to "drastic discount to NAV, inferior margins, poor capital allocation and horrible corporate governance practices,” according to real estate website GlobeSt.com.

Real estate investor Jonathan Litt sent a letter that was made public Wednesday to Taubman Centers Inc.'s independent directors in which he described having numerous discussions with Taubman executives over the years.

"After decades of voicing our concerns to management we are done listening to excuses from the Taubman family for the company's undervaluation and inferior operating performance,” he reportedly said in the letter.

Taubman (NYSE: TCO) owns, manages and leases outlet shopping centers across Asia and the United States. Taubman owns 50.1 percent of International Plaza in Tampa and has a 50 percent ownership interest in The Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota.

Litt in the letter said he sees "tremendous opportunity” to reverse "decades of poor stewardship,” GlobeSt.com reported.

"Taubman has underperformed its high quality class A mall REIT peers by 4 percent, 29 percent and 57 percent, respectively,” the letter said.

A Taubman spokeswoman said the company "welcomes open and constructive dialogue toward the goal of enhancing long-term value.”

Taubman Centers' second quarter revenue was $158.9 million, a increase of 20 percent compared with the same period in 2015.