Lend Lease May Be In Play

Lend Lease has a staff of 750 in the affluent Atlanta suburb. Fred N. Pratt Jr., who joined Lend Lease through its 1999 acquisition of Boston Financial, is the company's CEO for United States operations, based in Atlanta.

The reports cite a release by the parent company in Australia, which claims that Lend Lease Corp. is "evaluating alternatives to maximize shareholder value from its (real estate investments) business." The article states Lend Lease has retained several financial advisers to analyze a possible sale of the Buckhead division.

"The company has previously made it clear that it will look at all options and does not wish to preempt any particular course of action until it has completed its review of the various alternatives," according to reports of the statement.

Lend Lease Corp. reportedly issued the statement "after (industry) speculation about a sale of the underperforming U.S. subsidiary."

The review and a decision on the speculated sale are expected to be made by year end, claims the report.

Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc. was formed in 1997 when its parent bought Equitable Real Estate Investment Management, Inc. Besides being the one of the largest institutional real estate and mortgage investment advisers in the United States, Lend Lease Real Estate Investments owns CapMark Services, a commercial mortgage loan servicer; mortgage banker Holliday Fenoglio Fowler; and Housing and Community Investing, an affordable housing/tax credit investment group.

Lend Lease also has investment funds for high-net worth individuals and mutual fund investors. The company owns 50% of Lend Lease Rosen Real Estate Securities LLC and Lend Lease Hyperion Capital Advisors LLC.

Lend Lease did $11.6 billion worth of transactions in fiscal 2002, according to the latest company information posted on its Web site. Acquisitions in the U.S. totaled $1.8 billion; dispositions, $2.9 billion; mortgages, $1.9 billion; financings, $1.8 billion; REIT and CMBS purchases and sales, $2.8 billion; and agri-business investments, $400 million.

The Buckhead and New York offices of Lend Lease Real Estate Investments have $49 billion under management on five continents; $38 billion in the United States.

The company's most recent acquisitions were in Southern California where it purchased four apartment communities totaling 966 units for $88 million or $91,097 per unit. Lend Lease bought the assets for undisclosed institutional clients.