Reckson Group Raps Merger Proposal

A group of Reckson Associates shareholders, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers, is proposing to vote against the sale of the New York real estate investment trust to SL Green Realty, another New York office REIT.The group, which reportedly holds 835,000 shares of Reckson Associates common stock, said in a written release that they would only support the merger, which was announced earlier this year, if the board of Reckson "takes the necessary steps to achieve maximum value" for a "noncore" office portfolio that is being sold to a group led by Reckson management. The current sale price for the noncore office assets is $2.1 billion. The group maintained that Reckson did not market the noncore portfolio adequately, although they said they are satisfied with the marketing of the rest of the portfolio, which is being sold to SL Green for about $4 billion.