Equity Residential / Avalonbay Communities: Reaction to merger announcement / Publishing our one-pager analysis in Excel

Research evidence excerpt

Equity Residential / Avalonbay Communities: Reaction to merger announcement / Publishing our one-pager analysis in Excel

Equity Research

22 May 2026

Equity Residential / Avalonbay Communities

Reaction to merger

announcement / Publishing our

AVB OVERWEIGHTone-pager analysis in Excel

U.S. REITs NEUTRAL

Model suggests low-single-digit initial FFO/sh accretion, Price Target USD 203.00

inclusive of expected synergies. Plus, our latest thoughts Price (21-May-26) USD 184.11

(small and large) on a potential AVB-EQR combination. PotentialSource: Bloomberg,Upside/DownsideBarclays Research +10.3%

Prior to Thursday's market open, AVB and EQR announced their intent to pursue a "merger of EQR OVERWEIGHT

equals" in which AVB shareholders will receive 2.793 EQR shares for each AVB share. (Earlier U.S. REITs NEUTRAL

speculative news reports of a deal first surfaced the night of April 29, in the midst of 1Q26 Price Target USD 76.00

earnings season. Both stocks have modestly underperformed Apartments since then; likewise, Price (21-May-26) USD 65.76

both were down roughly -1% / underperformed the sector in Thursday's trading). On our math Potential Upside/Downside +15.6%

(see attached), the combined entity would have a pro forma equity market cap of ~$52bn, Source: Bloomberg, Barclays Research

placing it within the Top 10 U.S. REITs (as well as roughly at the median of the S&P 500, of which

both companies are already constituents), and a TEV of ~$71bn. With more than 183,000 U.S. REITs

combined units, "NewCo" (with the official new company name yet to be determined) would Richard Hightower

also become the largest U.S. owner and operator of apartment properties, whether public or +1 212 526 8768

private. richard.hightower@barclays.com

BCI, US