CHICAGO (AFX) - A proxy advisory firm is recommending that Equity Office Properties Trust shareholders approve a $22.3 billion buyout offer from The Blackstone Group, the commercial real estate company said Sunday.
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., a company that advises shareholders on proxy votes, gave its approval to the $54-per-share cash bid from the private equity firm.
Blackstone's latest offer for Chicago-based Equity Office came Thursday, topping a bid by Vornado Realty Trust, which joined Starwood Capital and Walton Street in a $52-per-share cash and stock offer valued at $20.4 billion.
New York-based Blackstone initially agreed in November to buy Equity Office for $20 billion, or $48.50 per share.
Including debt, Blackstone's latest offer -- an 11 percent increase from its first bid -- could be worth as much as $38 billion, making it the largest-ever private equity buyout. Excluding Equity Office's debt, the bid is the second-largest private equity buyout offer.
Equity Office is the largest publicly traded owner and manager of office properties. The dueling over the company comes at a time when the commercial real estate market is strong.
Equity Office shareholders are scheduled to vote on the deal Feb. 5. If shareholders approve Blackstone's bid, the deal could close by Feb. 8.
'The current bid offered by Blackstone appears to have culminated from an open bidding process, which has served to maximize the highest value for shareholders,' Rockville, Md.-based ISS said in a statement.
Equity Office's board of trustees has already recommended its shareholders approve the Blackstone offer.
The real estate company has given Vornado Group, a Paramus, N.J.-based real estate investment trust, until Wednesday to counter Blackstone's latest offer.
Equity Office owns 580 buildings totaling more than 108 million square feet in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Its portfolio includes such properties as Park Avenue Tower in New York, One Post Office Square in Boston, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange towers in Chicago, the One Market complex in San Francisco and Two California Plaza in Los Angeles.
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