Veris Residential, Inc. (VRE)

Veris Residential, Inc. was a real estate investment trust focused on owning, operating and developing multifamily apartment communities in the New Jersey waterfront and Boston areas. Its predecessor was Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, formed in 1997 through the combination of Cali Realty, which went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994, and the Mack Company. For many years Mack-Cali was one of the largest owners of suburban office buildings in the northeastern United States, with a portfolio concentrated in New Jersey and nearby states.

Beginning in the late 2010s, the company undertook a long-term strategic repositioning away from suburban office space and toward multifamily housing, often through its Roseland development platform. It sold large parts of its office portfolio and redeployed capital into apartment communities, particularly along the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City and at Port Imperial in Weehawken and West New York. In 2021 the company changed its name to Veris Residential and adopted a pure-play multifamily strategy, keeping the ticker VRE on the NYSE.

By the mid-2020s the portfolio included waterfront properties in Jersey City and the Port Imperial area, a presence in Short Hills, New Jersey, and communities in the Boston area, including East Boston and Malden, Massachusetts. The company highlighted the quality of its Class A buildings, its amenities, and its sustainability practices, and it continued to sell remaining non-core assets to reduce leverage. Its board was reconstituted after investor and activist pressure, and the Kushner Companies had made an unsuccessful takeover approach in 2023 before withdrawing.

In February 2026, Veris announced that it had agreed to be acquired by an investor consortium led by Affinius Capital, with Vista Hill Partners also participating. The transaction was valued at approximately $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion including debt, and was widely described in the real estate press as part of a wave of take-private deals for publicly traded apartment REITs trading at a discount to estimated asset values.

Under the merger agreement, holders of Veris common stock were to receive $19.00 per share in cash. Because the consideration was entirely cash, stockholders received a fixed price rather than shares of an acquirer. The transaction was subject to approval by Veris stockholders and customary closing conditions, and the company filed proxy materials describing the process that led to the agreement.

Veris announced completion of the transaction on May 27, 2026. Following the closing the company's common stock stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and a Form 25 was filed to remove the shares from listing and registration. Veris Residential continues to operate as a privately held owner of multifamily properties under the investor group's ownership, and it no longer files periodic reports as a public company.