Private REIT acquisitions areon the rise. Investors are showing increasing interest in acquiringprivate REITs, which have a variety of real estate holdings. Thesetransactions are very different from standard real estate deals,but they also have significant benefits.

"If real estate investors want to include in their potentialacquisition lists the expanding amount of real estate assets heldby private REITs in the U.S., they need to be familiar with the insand outs of acquiring a private REIT, which is a very differenttransaction from a traditional real estate purchase and sale,"Ben Fackler, a partner at AllenMatkins, tells GlobeSt.com. "And for both buyers andsellers it's important to understand those key transactionaldifferences in advance, in order to optimize the acquisitionprocess and reduce potential frictions and busted deals."

Private REITs are particularly popular in a low-yieldenvironment. "Private REITs have long been preferred tax-advantagedyield vehicles, and have increased in popularity as an asset classin the low-yield environment we have found ourselves in since theglobal financial crisis," Max Brunner, seniorcounsel at Allen Matkins, tells GlobeSt.com. "Adding fuel to thefire, in December 2015 Congress passed the Protecting Americansfrom Tax Hikes Act, which has channeled an increased amount offoreign investment in U.S. real estate into private REITs."