Equity Office Rejects Revised Vornado Bid

The board of trustees of Equity Office Properties Trust, Chicago, has unanimously reaffirmed its support for a proposed acquisition by affiliates of The Blackstone Group valued at $54 per share, despite a revised $56-per-share offer by Vornado Realty Trust, Paramus, N.J.Under the revised Vornado offer, each Equity Office share would convert into $31 in cash (plus pro rata dividends to the closing) and Vornado common shares valued at $25, except that the fraction of a Vornado share issued per Equity Office share would not be less than 0.1852 or more than 0.2174. In late January, Blackstone raised its offer to acquire Equity Office to $54 per share in cash. Equity Office said its board believes that the higher Vornado bid "fails to adequately compensate Equity Office shareholders for the increased risk when compared to the Blackstone transaction." Equity Office, the largest real estate investment trust by market capitalization in the United States, can be found online at http://www.equityoffice.com. Vornado can be found at http://www.vno.com, and Blackstone can be found at http://www.blackstone.com.