3. ING Buys Gables Residential for $2.8 Billion (2005)
ING Clarion purchased luxury apartment developer Gables Residential Trust in 2005 for about $2.8 billion, including the purchase of all Gable’s common stock and the assumption of $1.2 billion in debt. ING paid cash for the stock at a 14 percent premium above Gable’s closing price at the time of the deal. The deal was one of the largest privatizations in the multifamily industry: At the time, Atlanta-based Gables owned or managed about 42,000 units, a figure which has since grown by about 10,000 units. But the company’s private status may be short-lived: Gables is mulling a return to the public markets, among a series of strategies to recapitalize over the next several years.
