Private equity firms including Blackstone and TPG have signaled interest in acquiring Whitestone REIT, according to people familiar with the matter. The Houston-based owner and operator of open-air shopping centers has engaged Bank of America to manage the potential sale process, the sources said.
Whitestones portfolio centers on open-air retail properties located in Phoenix and several Texas markets - Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The company primarily leases to local businesses rather than national anchor chains, a strategy some shareholders have criticized.
The potential sale process follows a period of heightened shareholder activism. Company insiders and investors have recently notified Whitestone of two separate proxy contests for seats on its board. Those developments arrive months after a major shareholder submitted a takeover proposal that the company has not yet answered, according to the sources.
Representatives for Whitestone did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Bank of America, Blackstone and TPG declined to comment, the sources added.
Confidentiality agreements signed by the private equity firms permit them to review internal documents and other materials to help form potential bids. The sources emphasized there is no assurance that these firms will ultimately make offers or that a transaction will materialize.
Investor unrest at Whitestone has been ongoing. Several of the company's top 10 investors have privately raised concerns about the REITs cost structure and governance, urging that the firm might be better run as a private company rather than as a public one. The firm's tenant mix - often smaller, local operators such as nail salons - has been a point of debate among shareholders.
In January, Emmett Investment Management, which owned about 2.5% of Whitestone at the end of 2025 according to LSEG data, nominated four candidates to replace the majority of the six-member board. Emmett, a New York-based investment manager led by Alexander Rohr, had previously signaled a potential proxy fight roughly six months earlier; its January 2026 nominations had not been reported before, the sources said. Emmett had also put forward candidates for election in 2025. A representative for Emmett declined to comment.
Also in early January, former Whitestone CEO James Mastandrea publicly said he would nominate six director candidates to replace the current board. A representative for Mastandrea did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Separately, MCB Real Estate a major commercial real estate developer and investment manager that holds more than 9% of Whitestone offered to acquire the company for $15.20 per share in November. MCB has said publicly that Whitestone had not responded to that offer as of early January. The November bid represented MCBs second proposal to buy the REIT. A representative for MCB declined to comment.
Whitestone shares closed at $14.98 on Thursday, valuing the company at about $763 million. The company has not announced any response to the takeover bid referenced by the sources.
This confluence of potential strategic buyers, active shareholder nominations and unanswered offers places Whitestone at the center of both a formal sales process and governance disputes. The outcome remains uncertain: confidentiality agreements permit due diligence but do not obligate the interested parties to submit formal bids.