REAL ESTATE: Grubb & Ellis declares bankruptcy and is sold – Press
Grubb Ellis, one of the most active commercial real estate operators in Inland Southern California, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday and has arranged to be sold to a company affiliated with global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Grubb Ellis filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday in New York, It has also agreed to sell most of its assets to New York City-based BGC Capital Partners, a company spun off from Cantor Fitzgerald in 2004. BGC will provide some of the financing required to keep Grubb Ellis operating during the reorganization process.
Grubb Ellis has been saddled with heavy debt in recent years. In its filing, the company lists $150 million in assets and $167 million in debt as of 2011.
David Burback, executive vice president and managing director of the company’s Ontario office, said the reorganization plan would be a prepackaged bankruptcy. If it’s approved by the courts, Grubb Ellis could emerge from Chapter 11 within 45 days, he said. If that happens, it will have financial stability and more reach in the financial world.
“I think we will come out of this a bigger, better and stronger company,” Burback said.
Grubb Ellis has brokered numerous deals for office, industrial and retail space in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
But the company has been struggling financially for at least a year. Last March it said in a regulatory filing that it would listen to strategies that involve a sale or merger of the company if that was in the best interest of stockholders. Also, the company said at that time it would not pay quarterly dividends on some of its stock.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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