Embattled Schorsch resigns from 13 ARC affiliate boards

Move spurs management shifts at New York REIT, RCS Capital

New York REIT's Michael Happel, AR Capital's Nicholas Schorsch
New York REIT's Michael Happel, AR Capital's Nicholas Schorsch

Nicholas Schorsch stepped down from the boards of 13 investment products sponsored by his firm AR Capital, including the publicly traded New York REIT and RCS Capital Corp.

The 11 other board resignations include nontraded real estate investment trusts and direct investment programs, Bloomberg reported. Schorsch will step down immediately to focus on “potential liquidity events of closed programs sponsored by AR Capital,” the firm said in a statement today.

The announcement comes following the disclosure of accounting inaccuracies at American Realty Capital Properties, which led to Schorsch’s resignation from that board earlier this month.

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“I am completely confident in our management teams and our independent directors… These changes are part of the natural evolution of our businesses given our size and continuing growth,” Schorsch said in the statement.

The move also spurred management shakeups. Michael Happel will become CEO of New York REIT  and William Kahane will become its executive chairman as well as chairman of ARC Realty Finance Trust Inc. Kahane will resign from his role as a director of RCS Capital. [Bloomberg] — Tess Hofmann