(Bloomberg) -- Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. received an increased unsolicited takeover offer of $18.88 per share cash, compared with $18.70 previously, from an unidentified private investment firm.

The increase results from the investment firm’s decision that the purchase price would no longer be reduced by an $0.18 per share dividend Monmouth announced earlier this month, the company said in a statement.

The cash consideration still reflects a stated purchase price of $19.51 per share reduced by a $62.2 million fee if it terminates the deal with Equity Commonwealth, according to the statement. The stated purchase price represents a 1.5% premium over Monmouth’s closing price of $19.23.

Bloomberg News earlier reported that the bidder was Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group, which is competing against a previous merger agreement Monmouth reached with Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth that valued the investment trust at $3.4 billion including debt. Monmouth said its board is evaluating the amended proposal.

Starwood Is Said to Make Rival Bid for Monmouth Real Estate

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