Shareholder Marcato Capital Management LP asked American Realty Capital Properties Inc. to curb its acquisition spree and complained that a recent stock sale hurt existing investors.

Meanwhile, shareholders of American Realty Capital Properties Inc. voted against a controversial pay package that has the potential to make the company’s chief executive, Nicholas Schorsch, the country’s highest-paid REIT executive, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“The company is engaging in too many transformative transactions too quickly,” Richard McGuire, managing partner at Marcato, wrote in a letter to Leslie Michelson, American Realty’s lead independent director, that was included in a statement today. “ARCP should pause on large-scale transaction activity and give investors a chance to see multiple quarters of clean financial results.” The most recent deal announced was the sale of American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust Inc. for $2.6 billion in cash and shares.

Marcato, based in San Francisco, owns 21.8 million shares of American Realty, according to the statement. The New York- based real estate investment trust, whose chairman and chief executive officer is Nicholas Schorsch, has expanded through acquisitions since it first sold shares to the public in September 2011. The company is now the largest owner of U.S. single-tenant buildings, which are leased to businesses such as drugstores and fast-food restaurants.

American Realty raised its acquisition target for the year to $4.5 billion from its initial plan of $3 billion, according to an investor presentation filed with regulators today.

The REIT didn’t need to offer shares to raise money because it agreed to sell most of its multitenant shopping centers to Blackstone Group LP for about $2 billion, Marcato said in the letter. American Realty on May 28 closed on a sale of 138 million shares at $12 each.

“Such willingness to destroy shareholder value, by issuing shares at an acknowledged discount to fair value, illustrates a disregard for existing shareholders that we find very problematic,” Marcato said.

Matthew Goldstein, a spokesman for American Realty, didn’t have an immediate comment on the letter.

American Realty rose 0.3 percent to $12.41 at 9:36 a.m. in New York. The shares are down 19 percent in the 12 months through yesterday.