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Simon gives up after Macerich rejects second bid

The remodeled Santa Monica Place sits across the street from the historic Sears store in Santa Monica.
(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
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Santa Monica-based mall owner Macerich Co. rejected a second unsolicited bid from rival Simon Property Group, leading Simon to quickly withdraw its offer.

The proposal would have combined two of the nation’s largest mall owners.

“Our board carefully reviewed Simon Property Group’s revised proposal and concluded that it does not reflect the full value of our company,” Macerich Chief Executive Arthur Coppola said in a statement late Tuesday.

Simon, which is based in Indianapolis, made the unsolicited bid March 20, offering $95.50 per share. The proposal was valued at $16.8 billion, excluding assumption of approximately $6.4 billion of Macerich’s debt.

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Simon had called the proposal its “best and final offer,” and said it would withdraw the proposal by Wednesday if the two companies did not meet by then.

The March 20 offer was an improvement on a previous unsolicited bid that Simon made March 9. That offer of $91 per share was valued at $16 billion. Macerich also said then that the proposal “substantially undervalues” the company.

Coppola said he realized Macerich faces a “disconnect” between private market valuations and public market views, and called it “a situation we have seen before.”

To remedy this, he said the company plans to continue to upgrade its holdings by selling off lower-quality malls and expanding and redeveloping current properties.

Simon, the largest mall owner in the nation, owns several malls in Southern California, including Brea Mall and Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance.

Macerich’s Southern California properties include Santa Monica Place, as well as the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles.

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Shares of Macerich plummeted $4.32, or 5.1%, to $80.01 in midday trading.

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