Paramount Group CEO Albert Behler bought 100,000 shares in the struggling Midtown office landlord last week, his first such purchases in 18 months.
Behler bought stock last Thursday and Friday, according to a filing with federal securities regulators Monday. The acquisitions boosted his stake in the company to nearly 750,000 shares. He paid an average of $4.04 a share.
A spokesman for Paramount said Behler’s stock purchases were planned in advance. They appear to have given a lift to the company’s beaten-up stock, which trades 70% below its pre-pandemic value but has risen from an all-time low of $3.99 a share last Friday to $4.15 on Wednesday. On Monday, Crain’s reported that Paramount made millions in previously undisclosed payments to enterprises owned by Behler, including a private-jet company, consulting firm, and winery.
An email Wednesday to the chairman of Paramount’s compensation committee, Greg Wright, was returned by a spokeswoman at the board member’s Texas-based employer, Digital Realty Trust, who referred questions to Paramount. Before joining the board five years ago, Wright served as co-head of Americas real estate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the lead investment bank for Paramount’s 2014 initial public offering.
Paramount owns 13 million square feet of commercial space in Manhattan and San Francisco, including 1633 Broadway, 712 Fifth Ave., and 1301 Sixth Ave. Some of its buildings are 25% vacant or more because law firms and other tenants have moved to Hudson Yards or other locations. Paramount said last month that leasing activity has declined for three consecutive quarters and forecast that funds from operations would fall by a third this year.
Paramount’s stock is down but Behler has been a busy buyer over the last two years. Before last week’s purchases, he had last bought Paramount stock in August 2023, acquiring 70,000 shares at an average price of about $4.65 each, according to a regulatory filing. Since the start of 2023 he has more than tripled the number of common shares that he owns in the company he has run since 1991, filings show.
Although he owns 742,000 common shares now, Behler, who is also Paramount’s chairman, remains a relatively small shareholder with a 0.3% stake. Another board member, Katharina Otto-Bernstein, whose father founded the company, controls 12 million shares or 5.6% of the total. Her brother, Alexander Otto, controls 14 million shares. Their mother, Maren Otto, controls 7 million, according to Paramount’s most recent proxy statement.
