Empire State Building owner launches $1bn IPO

The company that controls the Empire State Building has revealed plans to raise as much as $1bn in an initial public offering, and become a real estate investment trust.

The Empire State Realty Trust will list shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the owners of the landmark building said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today, according to Bloomberg. The REIT, made up of a number of companies, will give investors the opportunity to own a piece of the world famous building, and it comes amid a boom in prices in New York's financial district. Manhattan office property prices have jumped 87% since a mid-2009 trough, according to Green Street Advisors, a REIT research firm in California. The REIT would consolidate Manhattan and New York ...