Deals
Zell Lifts Bid for Banks’ Stake in Archstone to $1.5 Billion
This article is for subscribers only.
Sam Zell’s Equity Residential raised its bid for a stake in Archstone held by Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc to almost $1.5 billion after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said it wanted to take control of the real-estate company.
The banks extended Zell’s deadline for exercising his option to buy their remaining 26.5 percent of Archstone until April 19, Chicago-based Equity Residential said in a statement today. Lehman, which has agreed to pay $1.3 billion for the banks’ other 26.5 percent of the apartment company, tried unsuccessfully to block the Zell deal, saying it would be forced to pay more than the $2.6 billion it planned for the banks’ 53 percent stake in Archstone.