Judge Rules Bid War May Commence for Archstone

CHICAGO-A judge his afternoon has ruled that Lehman Bros. cannot block two banks that own the majority interest in Archstone from selling their shares in the Denver-based multifamily company, according to a Reuters story. Locally based Equity Residential seeks to acquire at least 26.5% of Archstone, but Lehman filed a lawsuit, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, to block Equity from taking any share of the company.

Equity had offered $1.3 billion for the 26.5% interest in Archstone. However, Lehman, which owns 47% of Archstone, doesn’t want Equity, a main apartment competitor, to join the ownership structure. Lehman has first refusal rights to block any sale by Bank of America and Barclays Bank, but Lehman would have to match any Equity offer.