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Jonathan Litt’s Land & Buildings is pushing Gaming and Leisure to pair up with VICI Properties, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The activist investor has reportedly made Gaming and Leisure the biggest position in its $500 million portfolio and engaged executives about the benefits of a merger. Land & Buildings held a 0.3% stake in Gaming and Leisure at the end of September, according to Activist Insight Online.

A real estate investment trust spun off from Penn National Gaming in 2013 that has since acquired assets from Pinnacle Entertainment and Tropicana Entertainment, Gaming and Leisure owns 44 properties and has a market capitalization of $9 billion.

Shares in the REIT were up 4% in after-hours trading, following the Journal’s story.

VICI, which had a market cap of $11.5 billion, owns 22 gaming properties, including Caesars Palace, and four championship golf courses.

Land & Buildings has a broad track record in real estate companies since taking on activism in 2015. It has recently been an active player in retail, pushing shareholders in Hudson’s Bay Company to reject a management buyout, and targeted data centers and shopping mall REITs in recent years. Several of its first campaigns were at gaming companies, including Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts.

The hedge fund, founded in 2008 by Jonathan Litt and Craig Melcher, was profiled in the September 2019 issue of Activist Insight Monthly.

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