Empire State Realty Trust, the newly formed real estate investment trust that counts the iconic Empire State Building among its holdings, priced its initial public offering at $13 per share this morning. Since then, the stock hit a high of $13.49 and a low of $13.05, according to Nasdaq.
With 71.5 million shares at that price, the company raised $929.5 million, $650 million of which will go to the estate of the late New York real estate titan Leona Helmsley.
The REIT, which holds 18 other properties in Midtown Manhattan, Fairfield, Conn., and Westchester, trades under the ticker symbol ESRT on the New York Stock Exchange. The majority of revenues however, come from corporate leases at the Empire State Building, which generates $240 million annually. [CNBC] — Julie Strickland