Grubb and Ellis Co. (fka GRBEQ)

[Sharktnk]

March 2, 2012

California brokerage Grubb & Ellis Co. has drawn more opposition from one of its largest shareholder groups as the firm seeks to sell itself to New York’s BGC Partners Inc.

Denver’s Forward Management Funds LLC, which manages money for a group of investors including Condor Partners LP and Kensington Realty Income Fund, filed a joinder Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Grubb & Ellis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 20.

Forward, which said it holds 25 percent of Grubb & Ellis preferred stock, petitioned to join the objections of a group of unsecured creditors that asked the bankruptcy court to block or delay Grubb & Ellis’s proposed sale to BGC for $30 million.

The unsecured investors, on Feb. 27, said the timeline Grubb & Ellis laid out to hold a bankruptcy auction for its assets was too short to attract competitive bids. The court is scheduled a hearing March 5 on whether to approve the bidding procedures.

While it has lost a substantial number of brokers and listings to other firms, Grubb & Ellis was one of the Washington area’s largest brokerages and still has strong name recognition in the region. It was ranked sixth among the Washington Business Journal’s largest brokerage firms based on 2010 local revenue of $23.95 million


http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2012/03/shareholder-group-sides-with-grubb.html