G&L; Realty’s Board Accepts Execs’ Higher Buyout Offer

G&L; Realty Corp. said Friday that its top officers raised their offer to buy the company, and that the firm’s board accepted the offer instead of a higher bid from a rival group.

The Beverly Hills-based real estate investment trust said co-Chairmen Daniel M. Gottlieb and Steven D. Lebowitz agreed to raise their takeover offer to $13 a share from $12.

The company said a special board committee recommended the improved management bid over an offer worth at least $15.50 a share from a group led by real estate investor Lyle Weisman.

The special committee, which on Wednesday said it believed that the Weisman group was “close to a deal that the special committee” could recommend to shareholders, on Friday said it had “growing concerns ... as to the intention and ability” of the Weisman group to complete a deal.

A suit filed by shareholders earlier this year claimed that G&L;’s board breached its fiduciary responsibility by allowing Gottlieb and Lebowitz to sharply raise their stake in the firm.

Combined, the two control 42% of G&L;’s stock. The buyout will effectively be financed by the company because the buyout loan will be secured by the firm’s assets.

The two initially sought to acquire the company a year ago for $10 a share.

Gottlieb and Lebowitz raised that offer earlier in the year and again in May

G&L; said Wednesday that 60% of shares had been voted in favor of management’s $12-a-share buyout offer.

That included the 42% held by Gottlieb and Lebowitz.

However, the company also said Wednesday that if the special committee recommended the Weisman bid, the management takeover wouldn’t be consummated.

G&L; shares rose 17 cents to $12.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The announcement by the company was made after markets closed.