NRDC Acquisition Corp a 'blank-check company' set up with $400m in 2007 to buy operating businesses like restaurants and casinos wants to convert to a REIT.

The new company, named Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., would be geared toward buying retail properties from distressed owners.

The move is the latest sign real-estate investors are looking to the public markets for capital at a time banks are reluctant to lend and private capital is scarce. The strategy has paid off for many. Investors have bought more than $15bn in REIT secondary stock sales so far this year.

Wall Street Journal