2 REITs to buy shares of Lexington Realty Trust

Lexington Realty Trust said Tuesday that two other real estate investment trusts agreed to buy a total of 11.5 million of its common shares. Lexington also said it will buy 3.5 million of its common shares.

Vornado Realty Trust has agreed to buy 8 million common shares of Lexington at $5.60 a share, both companies said.

Winthrop Realty Trust said Tuesday it had acquired 3.5 million shares of common stock in Lexington, also at $5.60 per share.

Vornado and Winthrop arranged for interest-only financing at 50 percent of the purchase price of the common shares purchased, Lexington said.

Lexington also agreed to buy 3.5 million shares of its common stock, with all three deals expected to be settled on or around Thursday.

The common shares were previously held by AP LXP Holdings, an affiliate of Apollo Real Estate Advisors III.

Winthrop Chief Executive Michael L. Ashner said Lexington's shares _ which have declined 64 percent in the year to date _ have been oversold by the market.

"In our view, the opportunity presented was consistent with our stated philosophy to pursue deep value and distressed investments," Ashner said. "With the current instability in the real estate equity and debt markets, we anticipate an increase in the frequency of such opportunistic investments."

Lexington owns and manages office, industrial and retail properties nationwide. In morning trading, shares of the company rose 9 cents to $5.29.

Shares of Paramus, N.J.-based Vornado added 48 cents to $55.91.

Boston-based Winthrop's shares gained 6 cents to $2.01.