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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Simon extends deadline for Taubman take over

INDIANAPOLIS -- Simon Property Group said Monday it was extending by six weeks its $1.74 billion bid to buy rival mall operator Taubman Centers Inc.\nSimon officials said the owners of about 85 percent of the 52.2 million outstanding common shares had accepted the $20 a share purchase offer by the Friday deadline the company had previously set.\nThe Taubman family, which has a roughly 30 percent voting stake in the Bloomfield Hills-based company, has resisted the takeover effort by Simon.\nSimon and takeover partner Westfield America Inc. had said they would withdraw the purchase offer unless at least two-thirds of Taubman's common shares are accepted by Friday.\nThe purchase offer also included 31.7 million shares of series B stock, which is mainly held by the Taubman family, a Simon spokesman said.\nThe offer has been extended until March 28, Indianapolis-based Simon said.\n"We are gratified to have received such an unprecedented and overwhelming mandate from (Taubman's) public shareholders in support of our $20 per share all-cash offer," Simon and Westfield said in a joint statement. "The shareholders have sent a powerful message to (Taubman's) Board of Directors."\nTaubman on Monday again called this inadequate and opportunistic. "The facts have not changed:The holders of more than 30 percent of Taubman Centers voting shares have publicly announced their opposition to Simon's hostile offer," Taubman said. The votes of one-third of Taubman's voting shares would be enough to block the sale.\nUSCO Logistics bringing state 500 jobs\nPLAINFIELD, Ind. -- USCO Logistics plans to open a high-tech warehouse that will create as many as 500 jobs, officials said.\nThe center, which will distribute merchandise for JC Penney stores in the Midwest, is expected to begin operations in March, Hamden, Conn.-based USCO said last Feb. 11.\nUSCO plans to use about half the space in a building constructed by Browning Investments and Keystone Property Trust in a business park about 13 miles west of Indianapolis.\nUSCO is investing more than $25 million for equipment and a long-term lease for 435,000 square feet in the new building.\nThe Plainfield Town Council recently approved $1.25 million in property tax abatement for USCO, and the Indiana Department of Commerce awarded the company a grant of $94,000 to train workers.\nHarold Gutzwiller of the Hendricks County Economic Development Partnership, which has been helping the company with hiring, said USCO will have 500 full-time jobs and about 200 seasonal positions.

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