Hedge fund Paulson to buy stake in CB Richard Ellis

By Ilaina Jonas

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CB Richard Ellis Inc (CBG.N) stock rose more 13 percent on Wednesday after the world's largest real estate services firm said it agreed to sell 13,440,860 shares to hedge fund Paulson & Co and expected to generate $100 million from the sale.

In addition, CB Richard Ellis issued quarterly guidance for the first time in several quarters in advance of marketing an offering of $400 million senior subordinated notes due 2017.

The Los Angeles-based company also plans to raise $50 million by selling shares from time to time to the public market.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from the direct placement and the public offering for general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment or repurchase of some of its debt. It plans to use the proceeds from the notes sale to repay or repurchase its debt.

For the second quarter, CB Richard Ellis expects earnings per share attributable to its shareholders, excluding one-time items, to be in the range of break-even to 7 cents a share. That's down from 16 cents per share a year earlier and could trail the 7 cents a share analysts on average have forecast, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company said its outlook is "highly preliminary" given the uncertainty of the commercial real estate market and the nature of the leasing business which tends to be more active toward the end of the quarter.

CB Richard Ellis shares were up $1.11 or 13.6 percent to $9.24 and were among the top percentage gainers in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Ilaina Jonas, editing by Dave Zimmerman)