Sam Zell’s Equity Residential received the $150 million in termination fees from Bank of America, Barclays Bank PLC and Lehman Brothers Holdings to finish the sale of Archstone to Lehman, GlobeSt.com reported. Also yesterday, Lehman confirmed its completion of the purchase of Archstone’s remaining stake, grabbing the final 26.5 percent interest for $1.5 billion.
In a statement, Lehman said that it did not want Equity to get a piece of Archstone, saying “both acquisitions were made to protect and preserve the value of the Archstone enterprise.”
As previously reported, Equity Residential bid $1.33 billion to get half of the non-Lehman-owned stake of Archstone. Zell had bid higher and higher amounts for the remaining stake for the apartment portfolio, and though he didn’t win the properties, he did take away a huge profit. Equity spent a total of $5 million to put together the bids that ultimately netted it $150 million from its competitors all while forcing Lehman to pay millions more to acquire the asset.
Zell would have to return the money if he acquires a majority of the portfolio by Oct. 4. [GlobeSt]