On Tuesday it was announced that Real estate investment trust (REIT) Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (GLPI) will acquire real estate owned by Pinnacle Entertainment. The deal, consisting entirely of a stock transfer, is worth $4.75 billion. Pinnacle will then lease its former casinos from GLPI in a ten-year deal, with five-year renewals. Rent for the first year was set at $377 million.

The last year has seen multiple news releases related to the spin-off. Pinnacle and GLPI have been in negotiations for the deal since March, finally arriving at a Pinnacle value price of $47 per share. The market price spiked to $41.27 on the news Tuesday and was down to $39.75 at the market’s close on Friday – but increased marginally $40.04 in after hours trading.

Pinnacle is based in Las Vegas, Nevada and currently owns 15 gaming entertainment properties, located in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada and Ohio. GLPI will have no control of Pinnacle’s casino operations.

GLPI is based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. It is a spin-off of Penn National Gaming and was created on November 1, 2013. GLPI owns 20 casinos, 18 of which are operated by Penn, and two that the REIT operates themselves. The real estate investment trust company was created to take advantage of a loophole which allows REIT’s to avoid paying corporate income taxes as long as most of the revenue is returned to shareholders.

In a statement, GLPI Chairman and CEO Peter Carlino said, “€œPinnacle‘€™s proven track record of continued improving operating performance will make GLPI even stronger as we pursue long-term growth.”€

The Pinnacle deal will create the largest publicly traded REIT in the U.S. with 35 high value casino-hotel properties across 14 states.

The move to REIT spin-offs is gathering steam but only certain companies can benefit from the split-ups which are resource intensive and require time to set up.

Caesars Caesars Entertainment Corp. plans to break up its bankrupt operating division and rent to itself if approved by creditors and the bankruptcy court.

MGM Resorts International has been under pressure to create an REIT vehicle and is said to be looking into whether the structure would be beneficial for the company. Earlier this year an activist investor with less than 1% of the shares called on MGM to do the deed, but the idea was rejected at that time.