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An industry insider offers his opinion on the current business of CenterPoint (NYSE:CNT), headed by President & CEO John S. Gates Jr.

“Gates is one of the best CEOs in the business. He has shown a knack, since becoming a public entity, to generate considerably above REIT sector’s comparative total returns for shareholders, and he has done that largely through recycling capital and retaining a very sharp focus on his core Chicago industrial market. And it has paid off for shareholders. CenterPoint has done about 20% compound return now for shareholders up through the end of 1999. This year hasn’t caught up yet, but they just had an analysts’ meeting at which they announced a couple of very large new developments that have multi-year characteristics to them. These developments should give them good earnings visibility and types of assets that, were they to build them for the ultimate industrial tenants, they could recycle their capital over and over. It’s one of the best industrial opportunities out there for the REIT investor."