Activist takes Local Shopping REIT stake ahead of travel and leisure switch

A Swedish activist investor has taken a sizeable stake in Local Shopping REIT as the company prepares to relaunch as a travel and leisure business. Peter Gyllenhammar’s eponymous Stockholm-based investment firm has bought a 14.4% stake in Local Shopping REIT, according to a stock exchange filing. Lombard Odier Asset Management, meanwhile, has sold the entirety of its 13.2% stake in the company. Peter Gyllenhammar invests in small-cap companies in Sweden and the UK. On its website it describes its aim as becoming “the largest shareholder in the companies in which we invest”, with an investment profile “typically that of a ‘proactive investor’”. Gyllenhammar’s other UK holdings include a 4% stake in Palace Capital, at which he is encouraging the management team to launch a share buyback. Local Shopping REIT is in the process of offloading its remaining six properties. In its interim results, published in June, the company said it is in the process of changing its business model “from a real estate investment trust to an operating company focused on travel and leisure”. To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette