Midtown-based office landlord the Paramount Group raised $2.29 billion in the largest public offering ever for a U.S. real estate investment trust.
The firm, led by Albert Behler, sold 131 million shares at $17.50 per share. Through the overallotment option, underwriters can sell extra shares. Paramount is the fifth REIT to to go public this year. Twenty U.S. REITs launched IPOs last year.
“Right now you don’t have to go public. There’s an enormous amount of capital both domestic and international chasing U.S. real estate,” Mark McAllister of Clearbridge Investments Told The Wall Street Journal. “Owners have a lot of options.”
In August, Paramount expected to raise $2.5 billion, as previously reported. Douglas Emmett previously held the record for the priciest U.S. REIT IPO, with a $1.4 billion offering in 2006. [WSJ] — Mark Maurer