Seritage Growth Properties (“Seritage”) (NYSE:SRG), a newly formed public real estate investment trust (REIT) that purchased the aforementioned 266 properties from Sears in mid-2015, comprises 2.5% of Fund assets. Our detailed property-by-property analysis, which has been independently corroborated by third party real estate professionals, indicates that Seritage is signifi cantly undervalued at current market prices. One can only speculate that Warren Buffett (Trades,Portfolio) concurs with our assessment given his recent decision to personally acquire shares. Seritage’s real estate portfolio, which includes 235 properties and joint venture interests in 31 additional properties, has the opportunity to command signifi cantly higher rents. Seritage appears to have the largest development backlog of any national REIT, and will be able to develop more rentable space over time without a need for further acquisitions. Commentary from the company’s joint venture partners – General Growth Properties, Macerich, and Simon Properties – about ongoing and future projects across the country only serves to reinforce our conclusions. As shown in the following chart, Seritage and Sears have two of the lowest priced real estate portfolios in the United States.
From Bruce Berkowitz (Trades, Portfolio)'s 2015 Annual Letter for the Fairholme Fund.
