Apartment REIT Mulls Offer to Go Private

Irvine Apartment Communities Inc. said its board hired Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter & Co. to evaluate a $540-million offer from its chairman, billionaire developer Donald Bren, to take it private. On Dec. 1, Bren, through his closely held Irvine Co., offered $32.50 a share for 83% of Irvine Apartment’s common shares. At the time, the offer represented a 19% premium. Shares in Irvine Apartment, a real estate investment trust based in Newport Beach, have since risen 16%. It gained 13 cents to close at $31.88 on the New York Stock Exchange. Irvine Apartment owns apartment properties on Bren’s Irvine Ranch, the nation’s largest master-planned community. It’s the first REIT to attempt to go private in the wake of a 16% slump in REIT stock prices this year, which has made it difficult for companies to finance acquisitions through share offerings. Irvine Apartment owns or has under development 62 apartment communities with 18,758 units, mostly in Southern California.