Deal of the Year

Yesterday, Lehman Holdings announced that it is selling Archstone Inc. and its 59,355 apartment units, plus a significant pipeline of development deals to rivals Equity Residential and AvalonBay. Thus ends the journey of one of the great apartment companies that was built by CEO Scot Sellers. This comes after Lehman Brothers acquired the company in 2007 at the peak of the market, a transaction that has been given significant credit for the ultimate demise of Lehman. However, after Archstone was taken private, Sellers navigated the company through the worst of the downturn, and came out intact with the management team in place and poised to take full advantage of the recovery. Lehman Holdings has been preparing for an IPO, but the plans were trumped by the richer and less risky Equity/AvalonBay transaction. Lehman Holdings did a masterful job of maximizing shareholder value on the deal, but it's bittersweet for Sellers, who deserves to be very proud of the result – but sad to see the Archstone team dismantled.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International's Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author's own.

CW CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT