PREIT dodges delisting after stock price stabilizes on emergence from bankruptcy
PREIT said it received notice that it had regained compliance with an exchange requirement that its stock close at an average price of $1 over 30 consecutive days.
PREIT will retain its spot on the New York Stock Exchange after seeing its share price stabilize as it emerged from bankruptcy with new leeway from its creditors.
Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, as the company is formally known, said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it received a notice from the NYSE this week indicating that it had regained compliance with an exchange requirement that its stock close at an average price of $1 a share over 30 consecutive days.
It had been warned about two months earlier that it was in danger of breaching that standard.
“We are pleased to have regained compliance with all NYSE listing requirements,” PREIT chief executive Joseph F. Coradino said in a statement. “We remain focused on execution of our strategic plan to strengthen the company and create value by re-establishing our portfolio as multi-use destinations.”
Shares of PREIT only once closed lower than $1 since surging 48% to close at $1.26 on Nov. 24, as its restructuring plan involving new borrowing and a relaxation of some existing debt deadlines neared approval in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Before that, shares had closed under $1 for 76 consecutive days.
Shares closed at $1.03 on Wednesday, up a cent from the previous day’s close.
PREIT is the biggest mall owner in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, with properties that include the Cherry Hill Mall, Willow Grove Park, and Plymouth Meeting Mall, as well as a partnership interest in Center City’s Fashion District Philadelphia mall.
As PREIT and other big retail landlords struggled to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in late September, the NYSE warned the company that it risked delisting because its trading price had fallen below $1 for too long of a stretch.
Just more than a month later, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to seek court approval for its restructuring deal, saying the plan would let it complete a business overhaul aimed at reversing its sagging financial fortunes.
The deal, through which PREIT also relinquished control of the Fashion District to partner Macerich Co., was approved Nov. 30.