LBA Properties a Possible Buyout Target, Analysts Say

NEWPORT BEACH — LBA Properties Inc., a privately held property owner and developer that decided in October to raise as much as $378.5 million in an initial stock offering, may be a buyout target.

LBA Chairman Phil A. Belling said he still wants to go public as a real estate investment trust. But publicly held competitors such as Arden Realty Group Inc., CarrAmerica Realty Corp., Kilroy Realty Corp. and Spieker Properties Inc. are considering trying to acquire LBA, coveting its 48 Southern California offices and industrial and retail properties, securities analysts said.

A decision on LBA’s future may lie with LBA’s chief financial backer, AEW Capital Management of Boston. “It’s safe to say we’re the majority holder in the company right now,” AEW spokeswoman Martha Thurber said.

Prudential Securities Inc. analyst Louis Taylor said that institutional investors have told him they’re not interested in LBA’s public stock offering. By contrast, he said, “a handful of Belling’s competitors who are already public and who would love not to have to deal with the new competition . . . are saying they would pay a hefty price.”