As previously reported, American Finance Trust, Inc. (“AFIN” or the “Company”), formerly known as American Realty Capital Trust V, Inc., listed its shares on Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”), under the symbol AFIN effective July 19, 2018. The Company publicly estimated its net asset value as $23.56 a share during 2018, yet shares have traded below $5.00 a share during 2020, and closed at $6.76 a share on April 13, 2020.
AFIN announced on April 13, 2020 that its Board of Directors (the “Board”) has approved a “short-term stockholder rights plan” to protect the long-term interests of the Company, citing volatile in its share price that has resulted from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. AFIN says that the plan is designed to reduce the likelihood that any person or group (including a group of persons that are acting in concert with each other) would gain control of AFIN through open market accumulation of stock by imposing significant penalties upon any person or group that acquires 4.9% or more of the outstanding shares of the AFIN’s common stock without the approval of the Board.
Shares of the former non-traded REIT originally sold for $25.00 each, and the company terminated its share repurchase program at the end of June prior to listing on Nasdaq.