Simon Challenges Taubman Statements

Meanwhile, Simon Property Group has taken issue with recent statements by the Taubman Centers real estate investment trust regarding the Taubman family's voting interest and Simon's corporate governance.Taubman "is simply wrong in suggesting the Taubman family has a voting interest commensurate with its economic interest in the publicly traded REIT," Simon said. "As revealed in their 13-D filing on Friday [Nov. 15], the Taubman family owns less than 1% of the REIT, although they control over one-third of the votes, largely through the Series B preferred shares." Simon asserted that certain Series B preferred shares were "improperly obtained by the Taubman family in 1998 without a shareholder vote" and predicted that the family's ability to vote the shares "will not survive a legal challenge." Simon also said the Simon family "has no veto power or other control mechanism that could block a sale or merger transaction" as Taubman has stated. Simon can be found on the Web at http://www.shopsimon.com.