An activist hedge fund and the Related Companies offered on Wednesday to raise their takeover bid for CommonWealth REIT to about $2.26 billion, aiming to put additional pressure on the real estate company.
Related and Corvex Management, a firm run by Keith Meister, wrote in a letter to CommonWealth’s board that they were prepared to raise their bid to $27 a share, up from $25 a share. The possible bump was made possible, they wrote, because unnamed suitors had made expressions of interest in buying some of the company’s properties.
But the investors warned that the potential raised offer is subject to CommonWealth beginning negotiations with them within 48 hours.
Corvex and Related added that they will keep in place a lawsuit they had filed earlier on Wednesday meant to stop the company from proceeding with an equity offering that te shareholders contend will destroy value.
The promise of a higher bid appears to have had little allure for CommonWealth: The company said late Wednesday afternoon that it remained committed to its planned stock sale.
Shares of Commonwealth were up over 8 percent by late afternoon on Wednesday, at $22.38.
