Equity Residential, Buys Archstone for $6.5 Billion

Equity Residential, a company run by Sam Zell, Robert Caplin photo for The NYT.

Equity Residential, which is based in Chicago and whose chairman is real-estate mogul Sam Zell, will acquire about 60 percent of Archstone's assets and liabilities. AvalonBay, based in Arlington, Va., will acquire about 40 percent. The deal includes $9.5 billion in Archstone's debt.
The company, based in Englewood, Colo., owns or has a stake in 181 developments with 57,948 apartment units, as of Sept. 30. Its apartments are largely in metropolitan areas in the Northeast, California and southeast Florida.
 

Archstone apartment building in Boston, Mass.