If you invested in Peakstone Realty Trust (PKST) formerly known as Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT or Griffin Realty Trust and suffered investment losses, the Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates wants to hear from you.
We are investigating recent reports that FINRA-registered brokers unsuitably recommended high-risk Peakstone or Griffin Realty Trust positions to low-to-moderate risk investors due to firm-side incentives such as high commissions and sales fees. Investors may have suffered significant losses when the REIT subsequently lost approximately 82% of its value.
Peakstone Realty, a self-described "leading industrial and office REIT" with a real estate focus, adopted its current name and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange with symbol PKST in 2023, shortly after investor complaints surfaced concerning the REIT's old name, Griffin Realty Trust.
After Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT II merged with Cole Office & Industrial REIT, renaming itself to Griffin Realty Trust, the REIT once valued at over $9-per-share in 2021 performed a 1-for-9-reverse stock split in 2023 with new shares offered at $8.00 per share.
This means that the original shares once valued at over $9-per-share, after stock split, effectively were worth one-ninth of $8, which is approximately 89 cents ($8 divided by 9 is $0.89). PKST is presently worth $14.25, which converted to the original REIT share price before the 1-for-9 reverse split, is $1.58-per-original share ($14.25 divided by 9 is $1.58).
Bottom line: Griffin Realty Trust, once valued at $9.04 per share in June 2021, and which suspended share redemptions in October 2021, finds itself valued in 2024 at an equivalent of $1.58 per pre-split share, representing a loss of approximately 82% in value.
Vultures have been circling, too. In January 2023, another firm, CMG Partners, sent a letter to Griffin Realty Trust Class A and AA shareholders in which CMG offered to purchase shares at $3.40 per share, representing even greater potential losses; another firm, MacKenzie, previously offered $4.09 per share in 2022.
Lack of liquidity may have contributed to selling-minded investors accepting these low-ball offers, resulting in greater losses, as PKST didn't even join the public stock market until a 2023 IPO. After all, the name of the product type "non-traded REIT" indicates an illiquid offering that is more difficult to offload if it starts to tank.
What all this means is that Griffin Realty Trust performed poorly enough that it captured the attention of vulture capital firms looking to buy out customers at lower prices, which naturally would leave Griffin Realty Trust investors at a loss.
If you invested with a broker or investment adviser who recommended Peakstone or Griffin Realty Trust REITs despite their risk and lack of suitability, and subsequently suffered losses or other damages as the REIT itself lost value, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.