Kushner makes unsolicited bid for Veris

Deal values New Jersey rental owner at $4.3B

The Kushner Companies wants in on Veris Residential.

The family-run firm made an unsolicited bid for the REIT formerly known as Mack-Cali Realty, The Wall Street Journal first reported. Veris confirmed the offer, which values the company at roughly $4.3 billion, including debt.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/kushner-cos-offers-to-buy-rival-real-estate-company-11666307424

Kushner offered $16 a share for the real estate trust, which closed up 0.81 percent at $12.42 on Thursday. According to a letter reported by the Journal, the bid comes after Veris didn’t respond to an offer from Kushner to manage Veris properties.

“Our attempts at fruitful engagement with the board and management over the last several months have effectively been ignored,” chairman Charles Kushner wrote in the letter.

Kushner, which amassed a portfolio of New York real estate before the financial crisis, has lately shifted its focus to the national rental market. If it succeeds in taking over Veris, it would add roughly 7,700 units to a portfolio of 21,000 apartments in 14 states, the Journal reported. It has another 10,000 units under development, according to the letter.

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Kushner’s stake in Veris is roughly 5 percent, a person familiar told the Journal. The letter sent to the company’s board said Kushner was open to managing the company’s properties — rather than acquiring more shares — while cutting costs and improving management.

A deal for Veris would come as part of a return to Kushner’s roots. The company sold its New Jersey real estate holdings after Jared Kushner stepped into leadership after his father’s two-year prison sentence for witness tampering, filing false tax returns and making illegal campaign donations.
https://therealdeal.com/2020/12/23/charles-kushner-gets-presidential-pardon/

The company has made big buys in New Jersey’s multifamily market in recent years, part of its growing national portfolio in the sector.
https://therealdeal.com/tristate/issues_articles/kushners-home-field-advantage/

Jared, who no longer works for the firm, previously served as a senior White House aide for his father-in-law, Donald Trump. He later founded a Miami-based investment firm called Affinity Partners.
https://therealdeal.com/la/2021/07/29/south-florida-resident-jared-kushner-to-launch-miami-investment-firm/