Brazil’s Gafisa Wooed by Zell, GP

Brazilian homebuilder Gafisa is pondering a purchase proposal by billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell together with GP Investimentos. Gafisa officials admitted receiving a “preliminary asset purchase offer” and said they are analyzing the terms, but declined to offer additional details. The proposal would mean Zell’s repeat involvement with Gafisa after his investment company, Equity International, sold off its final 2.7% stake – or 11.7m shares – in the real estate developer in August of 2011, worth about BRL84m ($54m) at the market price at the time. EI gradually reduced its stake in Gafisa starting in August 2010. Observers at the time attributed EI’s exit to Gafisa’s higher costs due to an investment in Brazilian builder Tenda, a player in the low-income segment of the housing market. Gafisa has 432.7m shares outstanding and a market capitalization of BRL2.32bn ($1.35bn). Its shares closed at BRL5.34 Thursday.