Unnamed bidder offers $2.1B for Empire State Building

Empire State Building and Anthony Malkin
Empire State Building and Anthony Malkin

A second bidder — this time unidentified — has bid to buy the Empire State Building before the planned initial public offering for a portfolio that includes the iconic tower, Bloomberg News reported. The would-be buyer pledged to pay $2.1 billion, topping Rubin Schron’s $2 billion offer last week.

Building owner Malkin Holdings is currently reviewing two unsolicited bids in advance of the planned IPO, according to a regulatory filing cited by Bloomberg News.

Schron, president of Cammeby’s International and one of the city’s major property owners, had offered $2 billion in cash, as The Real Deal reported. He offered to make a $50 million non-refundable deposit once the contract was signed, and close within 90 days.

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An appraisal has valued the 102-story building at $2.53 billion, Malkin has claimed, in separate filings.

Malkin is offering buyouts to investors who do not support the share sale, Bloomberg News said.

Last month, the required 80 percent of the building’s investors signed on to approve the creation of a publicly traded real estate investment trust, Empire State Realty Trust, composed of the tower and 20 other buildings. The trust is seeking to raise about $1 billion in what may be the second-biggest U.S. IPO of a REIT, Bloomberg said. [Bloomberg News]Mark Maurer