Vornado Offers Alternate Bid for Equity Office

Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Paramus, N.J., has submitted an alternate proposal to acquire Equity Office Properties Trust, a Chicago-based REIT, that would offer cash up front to Equity Office shareholders.Equity Office's board of trustees unanimously reaffirmed its support late last week for a proposed acquisition by affiliates of The Blackstone Group valued at $54 per share, despite a revised $56-per-share offer by Vornado. Vornado said Feb. 4 that Equity Office had "raised concerns about the speed and certainty of the Vornado offer," and that to address those concerns it was making an alternate proposal "to pay the full cash portion of its offer up front and with certainty." This would be accomplished via a merger agreement requiring Vornado to make an upfront tender offer to buy up to 55% of Equity Office shares for $56 per share in cash and to complete a follow-on merger, Vornado said. Vornado can be found online at http://www.vno.com, and Equity Office can be found at http://www.equityoffice.com.