"Our board of directors strongly believes that our strategicmanagement plan is the right course of action for the company," EdFritsch, Highwoods president and CEO, says in a statement. Webelieve that remaining independent and continuing to execute ourwell-defined plan will improve our shareholders with moresignificant and sustainable long-term value."Given our board'sconfidence in the strategic management plan, we are not indiscussions and have no intention of entering into discussions withCapital Partners," he adds.

Capital Partners declined to comment. Its proposal for apossible acquisition comes six months after Capital purchased 29office and industrial buildings from Highwoods for $143 million, asGlobeSt.com previously reported. Five office buildings were inTampa, 17 office buildings and four industrial buildings were inAtlanta and three buildings were in South Carolina. The portfoliototaled 1.86 million sf. It represented a portion of the propertiesCapital originally sold to Highwoods in 1997 for $622 million.

At the time of the sale, Fritsch said, "our goal, as outlined byour strategic management plan, is to sell between $450 million to$550 million of non-core assets between 2005 and 2007."