Did Your Broker Sell You UNIT Shares?

Investors may have sustained serious losses from investing in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ: UNIT). Mainly, this internally managed real estate investment trust, which concentrates in wireless communication, is down more than 59% from its $21.79 52-week high, trading at $8.86 as of market close on July 16, 2019.
For background, Uniti is in the business of acquiring and constructing mission critical communications infrastructure. The company is a major wireless infrastructure solutions provider serving the communications sector. In the United States, Uniti controls about 500 wireless towers and owns more than 5 million fiber strand miles.

Uniti Sustains Volatility From Windstream Bankruptcy

Notably, UNIT’s struggling performance is attributable to Windstream, a rural telecom company who accounts for about half of Uniti’s sales, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Evidently, Aurelius Capital Management LP obtained a $310,000,000 judgment against Windstream. It appears that Windstream violated a bond covenant by its 2015 creation of Uniti. As a result, UNIT investors who incurred large drops in the value of their UNIT holdings may be wondering about whether more volatility is on the horizon. Moreover, those investors may be wondering if their brokers or advisors sold them the wrong investment.

A Word On Brokers Who Possibly Sold Unsuitable UNIT Shares

REITS are often comprised of real estate assets in the industrial, commercial and residential sector. Typically, these investments are riskier than traditional stock or index fund investments. REITS can be more volatile than some investors can handle. Unfortunately, some brokers sell investors REITs without telling them about risks and fees. Not only that, but some brokers engage in bad sales practices including misrepresenting risks or omitting fees.
Brokers must have a “reasonable basis” to believe their recommendations are suitable for investors. Particularly, brokers must take into account the customer’s investment profile, determining the customer’s risk tolerance and investment goals. Also, advisors typically have a fiduciary responsibility to their client investors. This prohibits them from making recommendations which are not in the investors’ best interest. Notably, securities regulators have sanctioned brokers for violating suitability rules.

Did Your Broker Sell You Unsuitable UNIT Investments?

It is possible for investors to take legal action against brokers for selling them unsuitable investments which possibly include UNIT. Did your broker cause your losses by selling you UNIT? If so, feel free to contact Soreide Law Group at (888) 760-6552 and speak with experienced counsel about a possible recovery of your investment losses. Soreide Law Group represents clients on a contingency fee basis and advances all costs. The firm has recovered millions of dollars for investors who have suffered losses due to misconduct of brokers and brokerage firms.