EQUITY ONE, INC. (Reuters) - Grocery shopping centre owner Regency Centers Corp (>> Regency Centers Corp) said on Monday it would buy Equity One Inc (>> Equity One, Inc.) for about $4.6 billion (3.67 billion pounds), adding shopping centres in urban areas like New York and Los Angeles to its portfolio.
Shares of Miami-based Equity One were up 14.8 percent at $31.99 in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
As a part of the agreement, each share of Equity One stock will be converted into 0.45 shares of newly issued shares of Regency, the companies said.
After the deal is completed, Regency shareholders will own about 62 percent of the combined company’s equity.
The deal is expected to add to the company's core funds from operations per share upon closing, Regency Centers Corp said in a statement.
Regency Centers Chief Executive Martin Stein, Jr. will lead the combined company.
J.P. Morgan Securities is acting as Regency's financial adviser, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting as its legal advisor.
Barclays acted as the lead financial advisor to Equity One, while Citigroup Global Markets Inc was the co-financial adviser. Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal adviser to Equity One.
The Wall Street Journal reported news of this deal earlier this afternoon.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Hay and Grant McCool)
