iStar Begins Stock Offering

New York-based iStar Financial has announced that an underwritten public offering of 8.0 million shares of its common stock is now under way.In addition, Starwood Opportunity Fund IV LP is proposing to sell 2.0 million shares of common stock owned by the fund, and it has agreed to sell up to an additional 1.5 million shares to the underwriters to cover any overallotments. The net proceeds from the offering of iStar's shares will be used to repay secured indebtedness. As part of the offering, iStar and the fund have agreed not to sell any other shares of common stock for 90 days, subject to customary exceptions. Assuming that the overallotment option is exercised in full, the Starwood fund will own approximately 20.1% of iStar's common stock after the offering, iStar said. The joint lead managers of the offering are Lehman Brothers Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. The finance company, which specializes in commercial real estate, can be found on the Web at http://www.istarfinancial.com.