Taubman Reports Investment Pact

Taubman Centers Inc., Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has announced that Sheldon M. Gordon and certain affiliates will invest $50 million in Taubman after selling the group's stake in The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas.Under the agreement, Mr. Gordon and the affiliates will receive 2.08 million operating partnership units in Taubman, a real estate investment trust, in exchange for the $50 million ($24 per unit). However, the units will not include voting rights and will carry "very limited rights to sell these units for two years, and thereafter on a phased basis over a three-year period," Taubman said. The REIT said the funds will be used to help finance a $100 million increase in its share repurchase program. Mr. Gordon, chairman of Gordon Group Holdings LLC (creator of The Forum Shops), was notified by Simon Property Group on Feb. 7 that Simon, a partner in The Forum Shops, would buy the Gordon stake in the Las Vegas properties. Simon, an Indianapolis-based REIT, had been pursuing a hostile takeover of Taubman that sparked lawsuits and several rounds of recriminations. Taubman enlisted the aid of Mr. Gordon in resisting the takeover attempt.