The two properties just sold are part of a group of assets Wilshire officially put on the block this past summer. The larger of the two is its Galsworthy Arms residential community in Long Branch, NJ, which went for $6.9 million. The profit, net of taxes, was $2.8 million, according to company officials. The second is a Rutherford Bank branch in Rutherford, NJ, which sold for $1.6 million and recorded a profit, net of taxes, of approximately $600.000. The buyers of the two assets were not identified.

"These divestitures are part of our announced strategy to rationalize our asset base through geographic concentration and quality upgrades in our core markets," says Sherry Wilzig Izak, Wilshire's chairman. She reports that since 2002 the company has received $80.1 million in gross proceeds from asset sales, has pending sales of $12.8 million and has $29.7 million in assets listed for sale. The largest sale to date came in October when it sold the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange, NJ for nearly $13 million.

Simultaneously, the company has announced it has hired consultants Freidman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. to "conduct a strategic review regarding alternatives to maximize shareholder value," Wilzig says. "We believe that the actions we have initiated and completed, and actions anticipated for the coming months have done a great deal to enhance the company's value. We will evaluate all strategies. That could possibly include a merger or the sale of the company. We have asked them to consider all alternatives."

The actions come at a time when at least one major shareholder has called for liquidation. As reported by GlobeSt.com in November, top execs of the Greenwich, CT-based Mercury Real Estate Advisors, a 14.6% stakeholder in Wilshire, fired off a letter to the latter's board criticizing its strategy and demanding that the company be "liquidated immediately to maximize shareholder value."

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GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Wilshire Sells Two More Assets for $9M

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