Activist investor Jonathan Litt has resigned from Mack-Cali Realty’s board, the New Jersey-based real estate investment trust announced Monday.
In the statement, the company said Litt’s departure “is not related to any disagreement with the company’s operations, policies, or practices.” Litt, who heads the hedge fund Land and Buildings, joined Mack-Cali’s board in March 2014, having bought a 0.5 percent stake in the company. Shortly after, CEO Mitchell Hersh resigned. It wasn’t clear whether Litt had any role in the dismissal.
Over the years the hedge fund manager has won a rare reputation as a REIT investor who actively tries to shape companies’ policies.
“There just are not a lot of people looking to be activists in the space,” he told the Wall Street Journal in late 2014. “You can make a business out of it.”
Following Hersh’s dismissal, former Brookfield [TRDataCustom] exec Mitchell Rudin took over as Mack-Cali’s CEO in June 2015. The REIT, which has extensive holdings in suburban office properties, saw its stock rise from a low of $16.90 in May 2015 to $27.61 as of Tuesday.