Archstone aims for $3.45bn IPO Archstone, the property company owned by Lehman Brothers Holdings, is seeking to raise $3.45bn in what would be one of the biggest US commercial real estate initial public offerings to date. Archstone said the proceeds from the offering would be used to pay down its debt as it warned that it had a "substantial amount of indebtedness" that could limit financial operations and its ability to secure funding. The company said that as of September 30 it had total consolidated debt of $9.4bn backed by its assets. If the offering goes forward this year, it would rank as the third-largest US IPO in 2012 behind the $16.1bn Facebook offering and the $4.1bn float of Banco Santander's Mexico unit. Along with the IPO, the company said it plans to enter into a $1bn unsecured revolving credit facility to help boost borrowing capacity. Archstone said it planned to qualify as a real estate investment trust and that investors would be limited to 9.8 per cent ownership of the company to maintain Reit status. As of September 30, the company operated 54,442 rental locations primarily in coastal regions of the US including southern California and New York City. Lehman bought the final 26.5 per cent of the company it did not already own in May for $1.58bn to pave the way for a public float. Lehman acquired Archstone alongside Bank of America and Barclays in a $22bn leveraged buyout in 2007, a year before the investment bank filed for bankruptcy. Archstone had revenues of $280.8m in the three months to the end of September, up 7.8 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. The company lost $176m in the quarter, down from a gain of $106.2m. In its regulatory filing made on Monday, the company did not specify how many shares it plans to offer or their expected price. Archstone is planning to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and trade using the symbol ASN. Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are acting as the lead underwriters for the deal.