American Realty Capital outmaneuvers RXR for $1.45B Worldwide Plaza stake

RXR Realty has lost out on a bid to pick up Worldwide Plaza, with American Realty Capital snagging a 48.9 percent stake and right to buy for a total of roughly $1.45 billion.

American submitted an offer rivaling RXR’s in early October, a move that prompted RXR to file a lawsuit seeking to block the sale of the 59-story, 1.8 million-square-foot tower. But Judge Shirley Werner Kornreich ruled Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court that the owners — a partnership of George Comfort & Sons, DRA Advisors, RCG Longview and Ramius Capital — were within bounds to back out of talks with RXR after the company asked for another extension to close the deal.

RXR’s problem seemed to come from its inability to secure approvals from Wells Fargo, which administers the tower’s securitized mortgage, Crain’s reported.

“One of the things that was frustrating for the sellers was that we had no certainty of closing,” Martin Luskin, an attorney with Blank Rome, who represented the sellers in the lawsuit, told Crain’s. “But with American Realty Capital, we got a deal that was structured in a way that would allow us to close.”

RXR, headed by Scott Rechler, is poised to launch a suit seeking damages against American Realty Capital, RXR attorney Stephen Meister told Crain’s, for the firm’s alleged theft of RXR’s financial analyses of Worldwide Plaza in preparation for its ill-fated bid. [Crain’s] — Julie Strickland