(Bloomberg) -- Newbrook Capital Advisors, the $1.8 billion hedge fund run by Robert Boucai, has a new short bet, and this time it's targeting a company in the real-estate sector.
In a quarterly letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg News, the firm said it's betting against an unnamed real estate investment trust, specifically a storage REIT that has more than 1,000 properties across 38 states. Newbrook cited top-line pressure from increasing supply and expense cuts that are limiting upside in net operating income growth. Extra Space Storage Inc. seems to fit the bill.
The Salt Lake City, Utah-based REIT owns and/or manages 1,470 operating stores in 38 states, according to a government filing from September. Of those locations, 447 are owned by third parties -- another detail that lines up with Newbrook's description. A spokesman for Extra Space had no immediate comment while a spokesman for Newbrook declined to comment.
The hedge fund's letter also noted that the REIT runs three segments: rental operations, tenant reinsurance and property management. These happen to be the same three businesses that Extra Space Storage operates.
"That has to be EXR based on the portfolio size and the 3rd party management stores," Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Lindsay Dutch said in a message. Extra Space Storage is the second biggest self-storage owner, behind only Public Storage, according to BI.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lily Katz in New York at lkatz31@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net.
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