Tony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings

From the February issue: The market for initial public offerings by real estate companies was hot in 2012. Companies like the real estate website Trulia, the private equity firm the Carlyle Group and Realogy — the largest residential brokerage franchiser in the world and the owner of the Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats — all made headlines by issuing blockbuster IPOs. Indeed, it was a good time to turn to Wall Street to raise money from the public markets, as the above-mentioned companies did, or to continue to reap the rewards of cash infusions as a real estate investment trust, or REIT. [more]

Lehman Holdings Chairman Owen Thomas

Just three months after it wrestled away complete control of the Archstone portfolio from its former partner banks and Equity Residential Chairman Sam Zell, Lehman has filed to take the Colorado-based apartment landlord public. Bloomberg News reported the IPO filed to raise $100 million, but that is likely just a placeholder number being used to calculate fees.

The debt taken on by Lehman Brothers to finance the purchase of the apartment portfolio — with Tishman Speyer — for $22.2 billion in 2007 was one of causes for its 2008 collapse. After having emerged from bankruptcy in March, Lehman is banking that the IPO will finally make Archstone pay off. [more]