American Home Announces Stock Offering

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust based in Melville, N.Y., has announced a public offering of 10 million shares of common stock.The company also announced that its board has declared two special dividends in lieu of one regular dividend for the first quarter due to the timing of the offering. The first dividend, $0.36 per share, will be payable March 10 to stockholders of record on Feb. 25, and the second, $0.19 per share, will be payable April 14 to stockholders of record on March 31, the company said. The lead managers of the stock offering are Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. and Lehman Brothers Inc. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to 1.5 million additional shares to cover any overallotments.