Shopping Centers: Property Operators and Brett Kozlowski

shopping centers: Icahn's perspective overall is very different from us, Brett Kozlowski, a Putnam fixed-income portfolio manager, told Market Watch in an interview, according to Market Watch. Our fundamental view on malls, he said, focuses on the ability of property operators to rent out their space and keep abreast of their debt payments, even as retailers face fierce competition. The Boston-based mutual-fund manager not only thinks that Icahn's brash 400 million wager against mall owners won't pan out, but the firm is doubling down on its opposing bet that e-commerce is not going to kill off shopping centers soon. We don't think the U.S. retail spender is dead, he said. He pointed to malls adding yoga studios or movie theaters, as one strategy, while noting that several California property owners have converted retail space into offices and residential units in their bid to replace lost rents in the tsunami of retail bankruptcies. We constantly are seeing malls shift away from apparel and more into services. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.