What happened Shares of real estate investment trust (REIT) VEREIT (NYSE: VER) rose a dramatic 19% as trading got under way on April 29. The big news driving the advance is that net lease peer Realty Income (NYSE: O) is buying it out in an all-stock deal. Interestingly, however, Realty Income's shares rose, too, gaining about 3%. Normally the shares of the buyer tend to decline. It looks like Wall Street really likes this deal. So what VEREIT is one of the largest net lease REITs, with around 3,800 properties. It has basically just completed a multi-year turnaround effort that started after an accounting scandal. One theory during the turnaround was that VEREIT would be sold, but with such a large portfolio there were few names capable of taking on the task. In fact, the only name that made sense was Realty Income, which owns a complementary portfolio of around 6,600 assets. And now it looks like that's exactly what has happened, with VEREIT shareholders set to get 0.705 shares of Realty Income for every VEREIT share they own. Image source: Getty Images. In many ways this is a great outcome for investors in VEREIT, who will now own 30% of net lease bellwether Realty Income. In fact, the dividend VEREIT investors receive is expected to be higher after the acquisition. Realty Income, meanwhile, will benefit from increased diversification in its portfolio and enhanced scale, among other things. The combined company's office assets will also be spun off, allowing Realty Income to pare down in an area that it didn't particularly want to be in anymore. Now what It isn't very often that mergers look like they will end up being win/win deals. But Realty Income buying VEREIT certainly seems to be just such a situation and investors are rewarding both REITs accordingly. If you own VEREIT you need to consider whether or not you want to capture the big price move or stick around to be a Realty Income shareholder. Most will probably want to stick around. 10 stocks we like better than VEREITWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and VEREIT wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Reuben Gregg Brewer owns shares of VEREIT. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source