I wrote this week about the tax code "gift" that Congress gave to C-corporations, allowing them to spin off their real estate assets, tax free, into a publicly-traded REIT, and I showed recent examples; some of them good, some great.
It's true - when smart companies can alter their capital structure and take rightful advantage of the REIT laws to lease back their real estate, companies can win, balance sheets can prosper, and investors can be victors.
Unfortunately, about two years ago, Congress passed a law that banned certain of these tax-free REIT spin-offs, and many corporations that own real estate along with their operating business (such as restaurants, casinos, and retailers) were left without a highly effective, tax-advantaged approach into the REIT sector. Loophole perhaps, but whatever you want to call it, it's now closed, and not sure if that's permanent (I'll leave that to the highly-paid lobbyists).
