Archive for Finance
Blackstone to Buy Retail REIT for $650M
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How Goldman’s Commodities Profit Engine Started to Sputter
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Bank said to be reviewing the unit after weak first quarter
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Blankfein had stayed committed as other firms cut back
The commodities supercycle was over, investors were losing interest and regulators were clamping down on risky trading. Most banks were retreating from commodities, but not Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
“That is a core, strategic business for us,” Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said in a 2013 interview with CNBC.
Ex-Executives of Barclays Are in Court, and U.S. Jobs Report Is Due
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a look at what’s coming up this week.
BANKING
A financial crisis-era case is a first in Britain.
A group of former Barclays executives will make their first court appearance in London on Monday after they were charged, along with the bank, last month with misrepresenting arrangements with Qatar when the bank raised money as the financial crisis worsened in 2008. The bank raised a total of $15 billion with two capital infusions from Qatar and other investors in June and October 2008, allowing it to avoid a government bailout, unlike several of its British banking rivals…
Siemens Breaks Ground on $300M Manufacturing, R&D Facility
Posted by: | CommentsSiemens Healthineers broke ground on a major expansion of a manufacturing and R&D facility for laboratory diagnostics in Walpole, Mass. Siemens invests more than $1 billion annually in U.S. R&D and plans to inject $300 million in this facility over a period of four years. Siemens aims to expand its existing 500,000-square-foot complex and anticipates it will create up to 700 new high-tech jobs over the next 10 years.
How a Bankrupt Fishmonger Became a Dollar-Store Billionaire
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Market for ‘100-yen’ stores thrives as shoppers seek bargains
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Country’s top discounter mints billionaire as rival closes in
Selling everyday items to bargain hunters has made the founder of Japan’s biggest discount store a billionaire.
Hirotake Yano, founder and president of closely held Daiso Sangyo Corp., the self-described “Japanese shopping wonderland,” was one of the country’s first vendors to adopt a single-price model and used that strategy to build a net worth that the Bloomberg Billionaires Index values at $1.9 billion…
How a Bankrupt Fishmonger Became a Dollar-Store Billionaire
Former Barclays Executives Appear in Court Over Qatar Deal
Posted by: | CommentsLONDON — A group of former Barclays executives appeared in a London court on Monday to answer charges that they conspired to misrepresent arrangements made with the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar in 2008, as the bank raised capital to help it weather the financial crisis.
British prosecutors charged the lender and four former executives — including a former chief executive, John S. Varley — last month, the first criminal charges to be brought in Britain against a bank over its actions during the financial crisis. The men charged are among the most senior bank managers anywhere in the world to face trial in a financial crisis-era case…
Brexit Winner Frankfurt Gets Another Shot at Finance Stardom
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Germany’s banking center emerges as main alternative to London
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‘It’s a bit boring, a bit dull. But then, so are many bankers’
And the Brexit winner is … Frankfurt? Could it really be? The city on the banks of the river Main had ambitions for decades to establish itself on a global map. It wanted to become West Germany’s new capital after World War II, only to lose out to provincial Bonn. After the introduction of the euro, it tried to rival London as Europe’s financial center, but never made it into the same league.
Clouds Build Over Junk Rally JPMorgan Says Has Topped Out
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Several companies forced to scrap or alter terms on bond sales
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JPMorgan Asset Management cuts high-yield bond holdings
A rally that sent yields on the world’s riskiest corporate bonds to a three-year low is showing signs of faltering.
A string of companies including Virgin Media and Berry Global Group Inc. have had to scrap or alter terms on planned debt sales, the biggest exchange-traded fund tracking junk debt has suffered two consecutive months of outflows, and a gauge of high-yield energy bonds has plunged alongside last month’s drop in oil prices.
All-Clear for Big Banks Raises Fears of a Return to Risk
Posted by: | CommentsIt took a decade — and $200 billion in fines — but the big banks are back.
The Federal Reserve’s passing grade for all 34 of the institutions it checks annually for financial soundness — the first all-clear since the Fed tests began in 2011 — is a watershed moment.
While some of the consequences will be felt sooner than others, they will be far-reaching. The immediate winners include investors as well as bank executives, who could see their already ample pay packages expand further.
Even as the broader market fell Thursday, bank stocks surged as investors cheered the big dividend increases announced by JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and others following the Fed’s statement…
Bonds Continue Decline as Central Banks Signal Waning Stimulus
Posted by: | CommentsA sell-off in global bonds continued on Friday, as the realization set in that the end is near for policies that have kept interest rates exceptionally low for a decade.
A speech this week by Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, signaled at best a very small change in the direction of monetary policy. But a confluence of upbeat utterances by Mr. Draghi and other top central bankers, along with growing optimism about the long-suffering eurozone, added up to an aha moment for financial markets.
Puerto Rico’s Oversight Board Seeks Bankruptcy for Power Company
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Bonds tumbled on speculation bondholders face deeper losses
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Request to U.S. board comes after restructuring deal rejected
Puerto Rico’s federal oversight board voted unanimously to allow for the government’s electric utility to file for bankruptcy after rejecting a longstanding debt-restructuring agreement with creditors, threatening to impose steep losses on bondholders and insurance companies.
The decision promises to upend years of negotiations by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, with hedge funds, mutual funds and bond-insurance companies to find an out-of-court solution to reduce the utility’s obligations and modernize its system…
Easterly Government Closes $128M Medical Financing
Posted by: | CommentsEasterly Government Properties Inc. closed on a $127.5 million mortgage loan for the Department of Veterans Affairs Ambulatory Care Facility in Loma Linda, Calif. Easterly acquired the 327,614-square-foot asset in June 2017. The 10-year non-amortizing loan carries a fixed interest rate of 3.59 percent per year.
Jack Ma’s Bank Deepens Push for Business Big Lenders Won’t Touch
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MYBank to keep expanding its customer base, president says
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Online bank started two years ago focuses on small businesses
MYbank, the two-year-old Chinese online lender that already has 3.5 million small-business customers, plans to push deeper into a segment that’s long been shunned by the country’s largest banks.
MYbank wants to capitalize on its links to billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. by offering loans to the more than 10 million smaller merchants that use the company’s e-commerce platforms, MYbank President Huang Hao said in a June 29 interview. The Hangzhou-based lender is controlled by Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial affiliate…
China Bad Debt Prices Up 30% as New Gold Rush Gets Under Way
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Too many buyers are grabbing a limited supply of NPLs: Belos
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Bain Capital, PAG bought bad loan portfolios in recent weeks
Bad loans are rapidly becoming the latest hot commodity in China as more domestic and foreign investors rush into the market and bid up prices.
Non-performing loan prices have risen more than 30 percent this year, according to distressed investor Belos Capital Asia Ltd. The average selling price of NPLs has climbed to around 50 cents on the dollar in the past two years, from 30 cents, said Victor Jong, a partner in the deals and business recovery services unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Shanghai. Such a high level is “very rare” in international markets, Jong said…
Boris Becker Declared Bankrupt By British Court
Posted by: | CommentsLondon (AP) — Boris Becker was declared bankrupt by a British court on Wednesday after the former tennis player failed to pay a long-standing debt.
A lawyer for the six-time Grand Slam champion pleaded with a Bankruptcy Court registrar in London for a last chance to pay a debt that Becker has owed to private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co. since 2015.
The registrar, Christine Derrett, said there was a lack of credible evidence that his debt would be paid soon. She refused to adjourn the case for a further 28 days and announced a bankruptcy order…
Inside the Red-Hot Stock Fund That’s Turning Down New Money
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Asian small cap fund has beaten 97% of peers in past 5 years
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Manager Elina Fung uses auditor’s eye to pick market winners
Whether she’s sipping tea with Indian dairy farmers or interrogating company executives in a Hong Kong skyscraper, Elina Fung brings the same techniques to finding stock market winners.
During multiple trips to central India — and many cups of masala chai — Fung says she questioned farmers about cow numbers, the variability of the monsoon season and how their milk is collected. It’s intelligence she then used to go bullish on Indian dairy company shares, and reflects an almost forensic approach to investing informed by Fung’s time as an auditor…
HFF Secures Financing for Florida Beach Hotel
Posted by: | CommentsHFF secured a non-recourse financing in the total amount of $12.6 million, for the acquisition and repositioning of the Days Inn Hotel, a 123-key beachside hotel located in Pensacola Beach, Fla. The borrower is a joint venture between RREAF Holdings and Innisfree Hotels.
Director Jeff Bucaro and Associate Nicole Schmidt led the HFF debt placement team in placing the non-recourse floating-rate loan through Benefit Street Partners Realty Trust, the transaction representing the 10th financing completed by Bucaro on behalf of the borrowers…
$3B Water Street Tampa Development Kicks Off This Fall
Posted by: | CommentsAfter several years of planning and accumulating properties in downtown Tampa for a transformative mixed-use waterfront district, Strategic Property Partners LLC said the first phase of the $3 billion, 9 million-square-foot Water Street Tampa project will begin this fall.
Big Data Tells Mortgage Traders an Amazing Amount About You
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Wall Street startup gives mortgage bond traders vivid data
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Consumer rights watchdogs raise concerns about privacy
If you borrowed to buy your home, chances are TheNumber knows a good deal about you.
The New York-based startup sucks in data from marketing firms, public loan filings, courthouses and dozens of other sources, and sells it to mortgage bond and loan traders. The vivid detail the company turns up — the types of stores borrowers tend to shop at and whether they rent out their homes on Airbnb Inc., for example — may unsettle privacy advocates, but it’s a boon for investors trying to figure out how likely homeowners are to pay their obligations…
Home Capital Sells Mortgage Assets to KingSett For C$1.16 Billion in Cash
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Portfolio of commercial mortgages valued a C$1.2 billion
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Proceeds to be used to improve liquidity and pay down debt
Home Capital Group Inc., the embattled alternative lender, agreed to sell a clutch of commercial mortgages to affiliates of KingSett Capital Inc. for C$1.16 billion ($874 million) in cash.
Proceeds will be used to boost liquidity and reduce the amount drawn on its C$2 billion credit facility, the Toronto-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. While the mortgages are valued at C$1.2 billion — some 6 percent of Home Capital’s total C$18.5 billion loan portfolio — about 97 percent of this will be realized with the balance subject to credit losses…
Citadel Deepens Reach Into Wall Street’s Bond-Dealing Stronghold
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Electronic market-maker to trade more off-the-run Treasuries
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Move is expansion of foray into client-to-dealer market
Citadel Securities is ratcheting up its head-to-head fight against the world’s largest banks as it seeks to handle a greater share of investors’ trades in the $14 trillion Treasuries market.
The electronic market-maker has been a presence in inter-dealer Treasuries trading for more than a decade. Now it’s deepening its reach into the client-to-dealer arena — a longtime bastion of Wall Street banks that’s proven tough for newcomers to crack and makes up almost half of daily turnover…
Wall Street Now Fears the Lawyer Who Used to Defend It
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Quinn Emanuel partner takes cut of $30 billion in settlements
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Confronting Goldman, Citigroup — and his fellow attorneys
Ten years ago, lawyer Dan Brockett and his colleagues opted for the equivalent of ditching an office job for a career as a big-game hunter.
As Wall Street cratered during the financial crisis, Brockett helped lead the firm’s move away from representing the world’s biggest banks and forgoing $1,000-an-hour defense work. Instead, he would earn his keep by suing the very companies that used to pay his bills. He’d be paid only if he won — on contingency, in which lawyers get a cut of a client’s recovery…
Office Evolution Debuts Business Center in Charleston
Posted by: | CommentsOffice Evolution partnered with financial services professional Andy Fry to open a new business center in downtown Charleston, S.C. The virtual office services company will occupy a 7,000-square-foot space at its new location.
PRIVATE FURNISHED OFFICES
The business center offers professional, on-demand office space to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Located in the city’s business district at 460 King St., the 18,200-square-foot office and restaurant building’s new space features co-working space, 21 private furnished offices, several conference rooms, business mailing and telephone answering services, as well as administrative support…
GS&P to Design $1B Nashville Yards
Posted by: | CommentsGresham, Smith and Partners will provide architecture, interior design, structural engineering and master planning services for Nashville Yards, a 15-acre mixed-use development planned for several blocks in Nashville, Tenn. According to The Tennessean, the project also includes 250 multifamily units, a 23-story Hyatt Regency hotel, offices, retail space and an urban park. Southwest Value partnered with Lincoln Property Co. for the $1 billion development.
Suburban Atlanta Office Portfolio Trades for $47M
Posted by: | CommentsTerraCap Management LLC acquired a three-building, Class A office portfolio in Alpharetta, Ga., totaling 336,000 rentable square feet. Deerfield Point and Windward Pointe commanded $47 million.
Located at 12725 and 12735 Morris Road, Deerfield Point consists of a pair of four-story buildings totaling more than 208,000 square feet. Built between 1998 and 2001, the property features a fitness center, a parking ratio of four spaces per 1,000 square feet and walkable nearby amenities…
Moody’s Downgrade Brings Australia’s Home Loan Risks Into Focus
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Six charts that illustrate changing risk from home loans
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Australian regulator due to announce new capital measures
The decision by Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade the ratings of Australia’s largest banks has focused attention on the risks lurking in the country’s A$1.51 trillion ($1.15 trillion) of mortgage loans.
“The resilience of household balance sheets and, consequently, bank portfolios to a serious economic downturn has not been tested at these levels of private sector indebtedness,” Moody’s said in the statement accompanying the downgrade of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp…
Equity Rally Extends to Asia on Tech Share Rebound: Markets Wrap
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S&P 500 posts fresh record high as technology stocks rally
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Treasuries drop as Fed’s Dudley comments on policy path
Asian stocks extended a global advance as technology shares continued a rebound and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official allayed concerns about the strength of the world’s largest economy.
French Equity Winners and Losers as Macron Strengthens His Hand
Posted by: | CommentsWhen it comes to France, investors are moving their bets from winners of the election to winners of the stock market.
With a parliamentary victory over the weekend cementing President Emmanuel Macron’s electoral triumph, the benchmark CAC 40 Index is leading gains among euro-area benchmarks on Monday. The biggest majority in 15 years for Macron’s party and allies in the National Assembly enables him to carry out his program of liberalizing France’s labor market and pushing for closer European integration. Also helping equities are strengthening signs of recovery in the economy…
French Equity Winners and Losers as Macron Strengthens His Hand
Takata Declines by Daily Limit as It’s Said to Plan Bankruptcy
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Shares of the component maker have plunged 53% this year
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Company says awaiting external committee’s final proposal
Takata Corp. fell by its daily limit after the embattled airbag maker was said to be planning to file for bankruptcy, paving the way for a sale of the 84-year-old Japanese company behind the biggest safety recall in automotive history.
Shares of Takata declined 17 percent, the most since April 27, at the end of trading Monday in Tokyo after going untraded through the regular session as orders to sell outnumbered buyers. The stock has plunged 53 percent this year. The supplier is expected to seek protection in its home country first, with its U.S. subsidiary filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy shortly thereafter, a person familiar with the matter said last week…
Less Stressful Tests Seen Boosting U.S. Bank Payouts $30 Billion
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Analysts estimate BofA could return 63% more to shareholders
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Fed to release 2017 results in two stages this week and next
The stress of stress tests may be over. At least for now.
After seven annual exercises in which at least one U.S. bank failed, all of the nation’s 34 largest lenders will probably pass this year’s Federal Reserve exam when results are revealed this week and next. That’s because the toughest component of the analysis of how firms would fare during a hypothetical crisis, the so-called qualitative review, no longer applies to the majority of those being tested.
Summit Hotels Lands $53M Courtyard by Marriott in Charlotte
Posted by: | CommentsSummit Hotel Properties Inc. completed the acquisition of the 181-key Courtyard by Marriott Charlotte City Center for $56.3 million and entered into a management agreement with OTO Development LLC. Summit Hotel Properties, partially funded the acquisition of the Courtyard by Marriott Charlotte City Center through recycling the capital from a non-core asset sale.
China’s Home Prices Increase in Fewer Cities as Curbs Bite
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Values gained in 56 cities in May, compared with 58 in April
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Sales growth quickened, buoyed by smaller cities’ transactions
China’s home prices increased in fewer cities last month in the wake of cooling measures imposed by local authorities.
New-home prices, excluding government-subsidized housing, gained from the previous month in 56 of 70 cities tracked by the government, compared with 58 in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. Prices fell in nine cities and were unchanged in five.
‘Dangerous Situation’ for Hong Kong Property Market, Says Finance Chief
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Finance chief says no one can tell how deep adjustment will be
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Financial system resilient, can withstand correction: Chan
Hong Kong’s property market is in a dangerous situation and vulnerable to a correction, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in an interview.
The warning comes as rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve send borrowing costs higher in Hong Kong, given the city imports U.S. monetary policy due to its currency peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority last week boosted borrowing costs by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent after the Fed raised its target range by the same amount.
Vice Valued at $5.7 Billion With $450 Million TPG Investment
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Media company plans to offer online subscription services
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Longtime investor Disney doesn’t participate in funding round
Vice Media Inc. got a $450 million investment from private equity firm TPG, valuing the irreverent chronicler of youth culture at $5.7 billion.
The funding will help Vice produce more video through a new in-house studio, and create online subscription services to sell those videos to consumers, Chief Executive Officer Shane Smith said in a statement. The company continues to consider an initial public offering, Smith said in an interview on CNBC.
It’s Been a Rough Year for Wall Street’s Conventional Wisdom
Posted by: | CommentsAnother year, another setback for conventional wisdom on Wall Street.
Midway through 2017, everything from a weak dollar to raging Treasuries has forced strategists to rethink some of their highest-conviction thoughts on how financial assets would perform.
And while predicting the future is famously difficult, it’s been an especially rough six month’s for Wall Street’s finest. Here’s a look at some of the biggest misses:
It’s Been a Rough Year for Wall Street’s Conventional Wisdom
Olympic Metals Breaks Ground on $8M Mixed-Use Asset
Posted by: | CommentsOlympic Metals, a division of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., developed an $8 million new facility located in Arapahoe County. Craig Paton and Craig Bustos from Transwestern represented Olympic Metals in the acquisition for its new headquarters.
OLYMPIC’S DOUBLE FACILITY
Located at 7956 S. Potomac St. in Centennial, Colo., the facility offers convenient access to C-470, Interstate 25 and to Denver’s Tech Center. The new 62,000-square-foot office/warehouse property sits on a 9.9-acre lot and will be located in Dove Valley Business Park. Senior Vice President Bill Lawrence is developing the project for Olympic Metals. The new facility is slated for completion in February 2018…
HFF Breathes $75M Into South SF Genesis Project
Posted by: | CommentsHFF breathes new life into mammoth project Genesis, an 800,000-square-foot life science campus in South San Francisco, Calif. The firm worked on behalf of the borrower, Phase 3 Real Estate Partners Inc., to secure a $75 million loan for the second phase of the project, the construction of North Tower, a 21-story, 390,000-square-foot building. NKF is spearheading project leasing efforts for the North Tower and South Tower.
Marcus & Millichap Close Sale of Mixed-Use Facility in Illinois
Posted by: | CommentsMarcus & Millichap completed the sale of a 30,000-square foot mixed-use facility in Machesney Park, Ill. Option Care & Universal Hospital Services traded for $3.8 million. A team of investment specialists with the company represented both the seller—a developer—and the buyer—a private investor—in the deal. The buyer agents were Sean O’Brien, Christopher Mitchel, Ryan Moore and Joseph DiSalvo. Christopher Mitchel, Forest Bender and Joseph DiSalvo represented the seller.
The $31 Billion Hole in GE’s Balance Sheet That Keeps Growing
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Pension shortfall is the biggest among S&P 500 companies
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Top brass ‘living in fear’ of activists with short-term goals
It’s a problem that Jeffrey Immelt largely ignored as he tried to appease General Electric Co.’s most vocal shareholders.
But it might end up being one of the costliest for John Flannery, GE’s newly anointed CEO, to fix.
At $31 billion, GE’s pension shortfall is the biggest among S&P 500 companies and 50 percent greater than any other corporation in the U.S. It’s a deficit that has swelled in recent years as Immelt spent more than $45 billion on share buybacks to win over Wall Street and pacify activists like Nelson Peltz…
An $85 Billion Asset Manager Is Staying Away From Nordic Banks
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Long coveted for their safety, Nordic banks have grown costly
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PineBridge now sees better value in southern European banks
Nordic banks, long considered among the safest in the world, are losing their appeal as an investment target, according to PineBridge Investments, a multi-asset manager that oversees about $85 billion.
Graeme Bencke, the portfolio manager who heads equity strategy at PineBridge in London, says the circumstances that made banks in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland a “good investment in the post-crisis period” no longer exist.
Clock is Ticking on India’s Bad Bank Debts Under Bankruptcy Laws
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India’s central bank to release more lists in coming months
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Tackling bad loans ‘biggest priority,’ government adviser says
India’s central bank plans to use insolvency laws against more corporate defaulters to speed up resolution of the country’s bad loans that have swelled to $180 billion.
“The clock’s already ticking — some cases are already before the National Company Law Tribune,” said Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic adviser to the finance ministry. “More lists will be out in the next few months.” Cleaning up India’s stressed loans is the biggest priority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, Sanyal said in an interview in New Delhi.
Jacksonville Office Asset Lands $19M Refi
Posted by: | CommentsHFF arranged a $19 million refinancing of One Deerwood, a Class A, 161,167-square-foot office building in Jacksonville, Fla. The mortgage replaced a previous CMBS loan on the property, which was scheduled to mature in May 2017, according to Yardi Matrix.
FLOATING-RATE LOAN
The debt placement team worked on behalf of the borrower, Taurus Investment Holdings LLC, to secure the three-year, floating-rate loan. Senior Managing Director Michael Weinberg and Director Porter Terry led HFF’s team that arranged the financing through Ares Management. Taurus Investment purchased the asset in 2007, when HFF was also involved in the transaction…
Canada Home Sales Drop Most in Almost 5 Years on Toronto Decline
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Drop in Toronto May home-sales is the largest since 2008
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National prices still up 18% from year ago; 29% in Toronto
Canadian home sales fell by the most in almost five years last month, led by a plunge in Toronto after a foreign-buyer tax was introduced to curb runaway price speculation.
Transactions nationally fell 6.2 percent in May, the fastest monthly decline since August 2012 the Canadian Real Estate Association reported Thursday. Sales in Toronto fell by 25 percent, the most since October 2008.
Why It’s Much Harder for Expat Bankers to Land a Hong Kong Job
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Today, expats get 15% of finance job placements, down from 40%
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Majority of new grads joining Citi in Hong Kong to be Chinese
Andrew Sullivan remembers the days when a young Brit could hustle his way into a job in Hong Kong finance.
He ought to know: He did it.
It was 1996, the twilight of British Hong Kong, when Sullivan arrived with a resume that couldn’t get him into a bank in the City of London. The former fighter pilot and chartered surveyor was soon hired as a stock analyst.
Camel Energy Enters Ann Arbor, Plans to Invest $5M
Posted by: | CommentsCamel Energy, a subsidiary of Camel Group New Energy Battery Academy Co., will be coming to the Ann Arbor region, Mich. The battery manufacturer plans to invest $4.6 million in a research and development center in Pittsfield, Mich., which will bring more than 40 engineering and technical jobs to the area.
One Home Capital Investor Made $15 Million in a Month
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Taylor ‘stuck neck out’ to go long against naysayers
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He’s vindicated after mortgage lender settled with regulator
David Taylor heard U.S. hedge funds argue that Home Capital Group Inc. was on the brink of disaster along with Canada’s bubbly housing market. So he bet against them.
Today, the founder and chief investment officer of Taylor Asset Management Inc. is vindicated as a rebound in the stock of the alternative mortgage lender almost doubled his investment in four weeks. Taylor owns about 4 million shares of Toronto-based Home Capital, making him one of the top-five shareholders with the firm’s ex-Chief Executive Officer Gerald Soloway…
Deutsche Bank to Restructure Corporate, Investment Banking
Posted by: | CommentsDeutsche Bank AG is giving Marcus Schenck, co-head of the newly combined investment bank and trading business, responsibility for overseeing clients in a reorganization that will see the bank focus on corporate customers, according to a copy of a memo seen by Bloomberg.
Schenck will also take charge of corporate finance, global capital markets and the institutional client group, while co-head Garth Ritchie will deal with products and processes and oversee operations including equities, fixed income and currencies, the email said. The bank is also creating a combined debt, equity and leveraged capital markets business within the investment bank…
China Builds Its Global Role, One Infrastructure Loan at a Time
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AIIB marks second annual meeting with $2.5 billion in loanbook
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$100 billion lender now has 77 members — still without U.S.
The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a mere startup among development lenders — but already has a global footprint.
Kicking off its second annual conference in the Korean resort island of Jeju on Friday, the bank can now boast a loan book of $2.5 billion, capped by new projects in India, Georgia and Tajikistan announced on Thursday.
Takata Plans to File for Bankruptcy as Soon as Next Week, Source Says
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Fellow air-bag maker Key Safety in line as preferred bidder
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Auto-parts supplier’s inflators linked to at least 17 deaths
Takata Corp. plans to file for bankruptcy as soon as next week, paving the way for a sale of the 84-year-old Japanese air-bag maker behind the biggest safety recall in automotive history.
The supplier is expected to seek protection in its home country first, with its U.S. subsidiary filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy shortly thereafter, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to identified because the matter isn’t public and the timing could change. A representative for the Tokyo-based company couldn’t immediately be reached outside normal business hours…
Portfolio Managers Are Holding Record Levels of Corporate Debt
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Stone & McCarthy weekly survey shows allocations at 37%
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Investors cut Treasury allocations ahead of Fed meeting
Combine the enduring search for yield with a renewed bull market in Treasuries and what do you get? Record high U.S. corporate debt holdings.
Stone & McCarthy Research Associates’ weekly survey of fixed-income portfolio managers showed corporate debt allocations at an all-time high of 37 percent, matching levels last seen in August 2016…
Portfolio Managers Are Holding Record Levels of Corporate Debt
Home Capital Settles with OSC Over Fraudulent Mortgages
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Canadian mortgage lender also settles class action claims
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Home Capital and executives to pay more than C$30 million
Home Capital Group Inc. and three former executives agreed to pay more than C$30 million ($23 million) to reach settlements with regulators and investors over allegations the Canadian lender misled shareholders about mortgage fraud.
Home Capital and the executives will pay C$12 million and cover C$500,000 in costs to the Ontario Securities Commission, the Toronto-based lender said in a statement after market hours Wednesday. The firm is also making a C$29.5 million payment to settle a class-action lawsuit filed after the shares plunged, which includes C$11 million paid in the proposed OSC deal, according to the statement…
Czechs Clamp Down on Mortgages, Warning Boom Puts Banks at Risk
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Central bank increases counter-cyclical reserve requirement
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Rusnok says mortgages are main source of risk for Czech banks
The Czech central bank stepped up efforts to cool the mortgage market, warning that rising house prices may spiral out of control and hurt lenders in a country with one of Europe’s lowest levels of housing loans.
Jernigan Capital Invests $10M in Florida Self-Storage Project
Posted by: | CommentsJernigan Capital Inc. has closed a $10.3 million investment for a proposed 811-unit self-storage project in St. Petersburg, Fla. The facility is expected to break ground in the third quarter of 2017 and to be completed in the third quarter of 2018. The developer of the project is Tampa-based Phillips Development & Realty…
Jernigan Capital Invests $10M in Florida Self-Storage Project
Morgan Stanley Says Bitcoin Needs Regulation to Keep Rising
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Cryptocurrency has more than tripled in value this year
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Autonomous nature of virtual currencies an initial attraction
While Morgan Stanley is high on the blockchain technology that underpins bitcoin, analysts at the investment bank are a bit more cautious when it comes to the surge in the price of the virtual currency.
“The rapid appreciation of cryptocurrencies has elicited many inbound phone calls to both our banks and tech teams,” the firm wrote in a report titled ‘Blockchain: Unchained?’ that was released Tuesday. “Possible explanations include investors in search of uncorrelated risk assets and technologists looking for incremental security. But governmental acceptance would be required for this to further accelerate, the price of which is regulation.”…
Wall Street Says Bank Regulatory Plans Are Better Than Expected
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New rules seen freeing up to $2 trillion of lending capacity
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KBW Bank Index up nearly one percent following announcement
The U.S. Treasury Department’s banking regulatory proposals could be even better for finance firms than they initially hoped.
Late Monday, the Trump administration laid out its highly anticipated plan for overhauling bank rules, and Wall Street likes what it sees. The proposals call for easing many of the regulations that were imposed on the industry after the financial crisis, which bankers have frequently complained about in the seven years since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act…
Morgans Hotel NYC Fetches $41M
Posted by: | CommentsReal estate investment firms The Kash Group and Shel Capital acquired the Morgans Hotel, located at 237 Madison Ave., in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood. The 71,000-square-foot iconic building traded for $41 million. The seller was real estate investment trust FelCor Lodging Trust. The Kash Group President Shlomo Bakhash and Shel Capital Co-founders Rony Kravel and Jonathan Bakhash made the announcement. The asset changed hands last year, upon SBE’s acquisition of Morgans Hotel Group…
Bank of Canada Rate Hike Signal Sends Loonie Higher
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Reasons to be encouraged by recent Canadian performance
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Wilkins says 2015 rate cuts faciliated oil price adjustment
The Bank of Canada offered its strongest signal yet that it’s ready to raise interest rates as the economy gathers steam, in surprise comments that sent the Canadian dollar and bond yields soaring.
In a speech Monday, Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins highlighted how the nation’s recovery is broadening across regions and sectors, giving policy makers “reason to be encouraged.” She downplayed worries about Toronto’s housing market and said policy makers need to keep their eye on the future evolution of growth, not only current economic conditions…
Asia Central Banks Rebuild $6 Trillion Defense as Fed Hike Looms
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Foreign-exchange reserves are rising across the region
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Buffers offer central banks a key defence against volatility
Asia’s central banks are stacking the sandbags.
Foreign-exchange reserves are being rebuilt as monetary authorities brace for the Federal Reserve’s third rate hike in six months. While the expected move has been well telegraphed, prolonged periods of Fed tightening can cause jitters for emerging markets. Asia was slammed in 2013 when then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s hint of an end to quantitative easing sparked the “taper tantrum.”
Philly-Area Office Trades, Lands $45M Financing
Posted by: | CommentsValley Creek Corporate Center, a 259,200-square-foot office complex in Exton, Pa., has come under new ownership in a transaction valued at $45.3 million. HFF marketed the Philadelphia-area property on behalf of the seller, a real estate investment management and advisory company, and orchestrated financing for the buyer, a joint venture of Pembroke IV and Ten Capital Management.
A Major Asset Manager Put a Price on Goldman’s Infamous ‘Hunger Bonds’
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‘Hunger bonds’ from Venezuela’s PDVSA marked at 33 cents
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Valuation level suggests a small profit for SEI’s fund
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s investment arm has $2.8 billion of bonds from Venezuela’s state oil company that don’t trade. Brokers have prodded investors on what they’d pay if the debt goes on sale. But so far there’s no clarity on price.
Until now.
One bondholder — SEI Investments Co., an Oaks, Pennsylvania-based asset manager — reported in a filing that the securities are worth 33 cents on the dollar at the end of last month. SEI came to hold $8.9 million of the bonds because Goldman Sachs Asset Management serves as a sub-adviser on a portion of its assets…