JACKSONVILLE, FL—Retail REIT Regency CentersCorp. said Thursday that it had offered to buy rivalAmREIT Inc. for $22 per share, or approximately $435 million.Houston-based AmREIT's stock rose to the offer price afterThursday's announcement, Reuters reported. AmREIT later issued astatement acknowledging receipt of the offer, which its board isevaluating.

“We believe this proposal represents an extremely attractivetransaction for AmREIT shareholders, one that would enable them toreceive immediate and certain value for their shares or theopportunity to participate in the potential benefit of ownership ofan interest in the combined company,” Regency's chairman and CEO,Hap Stein, wrote in a letter addressed to AmREITchairman H. Kerr Taylor. Regency already controls4.2% of AmREIT's stock.

Regency's proposal, Stein wrote, is “especially compelling inlight of the structural obstacles AmREIT faces on account of itssmall size relative to other public REITs—namely, more limited andcostly access to capital, a higher G&A burden and morepronounced exposure to market and project concentration risk. Theseobstacles have undoubtedly contributed to AmREIT's stock continuingto trade at a significant discount to net asset value, and webelieve they make it highly unlikely that AmREIT, on a standalonebasis, can achieve the value represented by this proposal in thenear or even longer term.”