The amendment doesn't alter the price; the agreement calls forthe buyers to pay $60.75 for each outstanding common share, toassume approximately $6.3 billion in existing debt, and to pay offSeries I preferred shareholders and unitholders of the operatingpartnership. When the deal was announced in May, the offerrepresented a 22.7% premium over Archstone-Smith's share price.Bank of America is providing some or all of the debt financingassociated with the transaction.

Archstone-Smith, an S&P 500 company, owned all or part of86,014 units in 344 properties as of the end of March and had 3,500employees. The company's portfolio is concentrated in theWashington, DC metropolitan area, Southern California, the SanFrancisco Bay Area, the New York metropolitan area, Seattle andBoston.

Tishman Speyer's multifamily portfolio totals approximately11,500 units, located primarily in New York City. Almost all of itwas acquired in October, when with Blackrock Inc. it paid $5.4billion for the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village propertiesfrom MetLife, Inc, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.