The story
Gazit-Globe was founded in 1982. Since May 1991, the company has been controlled by Chaim Katzman, who trained as a lawyer and in 1979 moved to South Florida, where he became involved in the development and management of commercial and residential real estate. During the 1980s he also started developing his real estate business in Israel, and was able to consolidate his holding in Gazit-Globe, at the time a corporate shell with no business operations.
The holding in Gazit-Globe enabled Katzman to draw investors to help him acquire additional retail centers, and it became a vehicle to raise capital for further property and business acquisitions.
In 1992, Katzman formed Equity One as a partially owned subsidiary of Gazit that operate as a real estate investment trust (REIT). Equity One grew gradually during the mid-1990s and in 1998 the company had an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, Gazit-Globe retained partial ownership of Equity One after the business was spun off as a stand-alone company. Going public provided Equity One with access to US capital markets and hastened its growth. Equity One won over investors seeking steady dividend income.
In 2004 Gazit acquired 33% of Citycon, a Finnish public company which focuses on commercial real estate in the Nordic region. In the following years Gazit increased its stake in the company to 47%.
In August 2008 Gazit-Globe finalised the takeover of the troubled European property developer Meinl European Land (MELV.VI.), Gazit together with Citigroup jointly invested 800 million euros in Meinl Land. The move strengthened Gazit's foothold in the Eastern European and Russian markets. Following the takeover, Meinl's name was changed to Atrium European Real Estate Limited and a new board of directors and management was appointed.
In December 2011, Gazit-Globe had an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, which raised US$81.0 million in gross proceeds. Its stock is traded under the ticker symbol "GZT".
In October 2013, Gazit-Globe listed its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GZT".
Gazit-Globe voluntarily delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange on September 27, 2018, and from the New York Stock Exchange on March 11, 2019.
From Wikipedia’s article on Gazit-Globe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5