American Realty offers to buy Cole Credit Property Trust for $5.7 billion

Real estate investment trust American Realty Capital Properties Inc said it offered to buy Cole Credit Property Trust III Inc for $5.7 billion in cash and stock to create the largest publicly traded REIT in the net lease sector.

The offer is valued at more than $9 billion including debt, American Realty Capital said in a statement on Wednesday.

In a letter to the Cole Credit board, the company asked the trust to call off its planned acquisition of its external adviser, Cole Holdings Corp, saying its offer would provide immediate liquidity to the shareholders of the trust.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)