Wheeler, Dealer

News

The stock of Wheeler Real Investment Trust will begin trading under the symbol WHLR, when the stock market opens at 9:30 for public trading on Monday, Nov. 16.

For nearly a year, Wheeler Interests, the real investment and management firm based in Virginia Beach, directed by Jon Wheeler, has tested the market, filing amendments to its initial registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  

Wheeler is offering 4 million shares at $5.25 per share, with a goal of raising $21 million. The stock will be traded on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market.

With the proceeds, Wheeler plans to buy retail properties, such as strip centers, in secondary and tertiary markets.

In other words, the properties will be located in mid to lower income neighborhoods. They won’t be located in Ghent or the Hilltop section of Virginia Beach, a draw for high-end retailers and grocery stores.

“We believe our tenants carry goods that are less impacted by fluctuations in the broader U.S. economy and consumers’ disposable income, generating more predictable property-level cash flows,” according to the company’s profile at NASDAQ.

The company’s portfolio, following the initial public offering, will consist of five retail shopping centers, two free-standing retail properties, and one office building, the NASDAQ profile said.

Five of these properties are located in Virginia, one is located in Florida, one is located in North Carolina and one is located in Oklahoma, according to the NASDAQ profile.

As of June 30, 2012, the company’s portfolio totaled a total gross leasable area of 348,490 square feet and an occupancy level of approximately 90 percent, the NASDAQ profile said.

Wheeler, chairman and president, is the company’s largest stockholder.

Wheeler, known for attention to his employees, such as helping them quit smoking or giving them the chance to grow a garden, likes to think big.

“I didn’t get where I am today if I didn’t think big,” Wheeler said in a previous interview.