Bloomberg: Essex Property Offers To Buy BRE For $5 Bln

(RTTNews) - Apartment landlord Essex Property Trust Inc. (ESS) has offered to acquire San Francisco-based BRE Properties Inc. (BRE) for about $5 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.

The offer was made this week. It is said to be higher than a $60 per share bid for BRE made by investment firm Land & Buildings and an investor group earlier this year.

BRE manages apartments in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, and the biggest share of its net operating income comes from apartments in the San Francisco Bay area. The firm has been working with Wells Fargo & Co. to evaluate options including a potential sale.

A combination of these firms will bring together two West Coast apartment companies with properties almost exclusively based in California and the Seattle metropolitan area.

Essex reportedly made an offer for BRE earlier this year, which was rejected. In order to fund the deal, Essex plans to use bank financing, issue stock and sell assets.

ESS closed down 2.2 percent at $150.65 on Wednesday.

BRE settled higher by 10.8 percent at $59.11.