Icahn offers solo bid for landlord

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn outlined a new, $4.3-billion bid for Reckson Associates Realty Corp. on Monday, this time on his own after two partners withdrew over the weekend.

Icahn said in a letter that he would submit a formal proposal to Reckson by today. On Wednesday, shareholders are scheduled to complete a vote on a rival bid from SL Green Realty Corp. Reckson’s board has recommended accepting the SL Green proposal.

The vote had been postponed, to Nov. 28 from Nov. 22, after Icahn submitted his first bid along with New York real estate investor Harry Macklowe.

Mack-Cali Realty Corp. joined the bid Friday and had committed $400 million to the partnership. But the firm decided Saturday not to participate. Macklowe withdrew Sunday.

Mack-Cali Chief Executive Mitchell Hersh said in a statement Monday, “We believe that when invited into this deal, we owed it to our shareholders to consider the acquisition of Reckson due to synergies with Reckson’s suburban markets. However, after careful analysis, we determined that this transaction would not be in the best interests of our shareholders.”

A spokeswoman for Mack-Cali did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Both of Icahn’s offers came after SL Green proposed to buy out Reckson.

Uniondale, N.Y.-based Reckson owns office buildings in the New York, Connecticut and New Jersey area near New York City. Among its properties is the 35-story 1350 Avenue of the Americas, which has tenants such as publisher HarperCollins and clothier Burberry.

The latest offer from Icahn is worth $4.3 billion, or $1 billion in cash and $3.3 billion in shares of American Real Estate Partners, of which Icahn owns about 90%. It also includes assumed debt of about $2 billion.