A team of Goodwin Procter attorneys recently advised client Essex Property Trust in its merger with BRE Properties, creating the nation’s only publicly traded West Coast multifamily REIT and the third-largest multifamily REIT in the country.
The new joint venture will have a market capitalization of $15.4 billion, and the combined company will retain the Essex name, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “ESS” symbol. Essex will own more than 56,000 apartment units in 239 properties throughout the West Coast, from Southern California to Seattle.
The bi-coastal, cross-practice Goodwin M&A team on this transaction was led by Gil Menna and Dean Pappas.
Since 2005, Goodwin has advised on more than $150 billion in REIT M&A transactions, including the Essex/BRE merger, and has been involved in 5 of the 8 largest multifamily REIT M&A transactions in the country. In many cases, Goodwin also took these companies public in earlier decades, either as issuer’s or underwriter’s counsel.
The financial advisors involved include UBS Investment Bank, Citibank and Wells Fargo Securities.