Discounts in US Reits setting the stage for buyout spree

New York

GET ready for a wave of takeovers of US publicly traded landlords.

Real estate investment trusts (Reits) are trading at an almost 15 per cent discount to what investors would pay for buildings individually, according to Green Street Advisors LLC. The gap, the biggest in five years, has been growing since May, pushing the odds of Reit buyouts to the highest since 2006, the property-research firm's data show.

That means acquisitions such as Blackstone Group LP's US$3.93 billion deal for Strategic Hotels &…