June 22, 2004
Willkie client Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest owner of shopping malls, announces it has agreed to acquire Chelsea Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest owner of outlet malls, for $3.5 billion in cash and stock.
On June 21, Willkie client Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest owner of shopping malls, announced it has agreed to acquire Chelsea Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest owner of outlet malls, for $3.5 billion in cash and stock. As reported in the June 22 editions of The Wall Street Journal and The Daily Deal and the June 25 New York Law Journal, Indianapolis-based Simon will acquire all of Chelsea's shares outstanding plus its operating partnership units. Additionally, Simon will assume the Roseland, N.J.-based REIT's existing debt and preferred stock, which totaled near $1.3 billion as of March 31. After the merger, Simon will hold 355 properties across the U.S. and in Canada, Europe and Asia. The deal represents a strategic shift for Simon because it would expand the company's holdings to outlet malls and give it entry into the Asian market. Willkie attorneys on the deal include partners Richard Posen, Robert Stebbins, Douglas Ulene, Frank Daniele and Henry Cohn, and associates Joseph Cunningham, Peter Haller and David Kurzweil.
