Archive for Uncategorized
Lance Roberts: The Case For A 50% Market Correction
Posted by: | CommentsRunning out of gimmicks to goose ‘earnings’ growth
So, did the nauseating last few months of 2018 signal the end of the secular bull market?
Or is the rebound that kicked-off 2019 a sign that the uptrend is still intact? Or it is just a dead-cat bounce?
Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist and chief editor of Real Investment Advice, returns to the podcast with fresh data that suggests the bear market that emerged late last year is still in play.
Of greater concern to him, though, is where things are headed from here:
Wealth Managers Are Getting 30% Pay Hikes to Defect in Asia
Posted by: | CommentsWith great wealth comes great remuneration.
Competition to manage the money of Asia’s burgeoning army of millionaires has pushed pay hikes for wealth managers to the highest in more than a decade. Those willing to jump to a rival are getting increases of 30 percent or more in Hong Kong and Singapore, according to private bankers and recruiters…
Billionaire Ashley Buys House of Fraser for $115 Million
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Ashley’s Sports Direct rescues U.K. department-store chain
- Deal comes after 169-year-old retailer began insolvency talks
U.K. billionaire Mike Ashley swooped in to rescue the House of Fraser Ltd.department-store chain for 90 million pounds ($115 million), staving off collapse for an anchor of the country’s troubled shopping districts.
Ashley’s Sports Direct International Plc agreed to acquire the 169-year-old retailer’s U.K. stores, brand name and inventory. The move came after House of Fraser, which employs 17,000 people directly and through contractors, on Friday went to court to seek protection from creditors…
Many of the Best Wall Street Jobs for Women Aren’t on Wall Street
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San Francisco-based Schwab and Dodge & Cox top the ranking
- Distance from old-boy networks may be part of the reason
Women who want to manage money seem to be having better luck doing it someplace other than Wall Street.
U.S. firms with the highest share of female portfolio managers are located thousands of miles from Manhattan, according to new Morningstar Inc. research. Dodge & Cox and Charles Schwab Corp. — both with headquarters in San Francisco — are top ranked at 30 percent and 28 percent, while Franklin Resources Inc., with $724 billion in assets as of June 30, is tied for the third and based in nearby San Mateo, California…
The Cheapest Place to Buy a House in the Hamptons
Posted by: | CommentsIn a market dictated by the whimsy of the grossly rich, parsing real value is tough—but not impossible. Here’s a look at relative pricing of homes in six Hamptons neighborhoods.
Figuring out how much a home is worth in a vacation destination is often an uphill battle.
Whereas normal property markets have prices that are tied closely to square footage, size of a lot, quality of a building, and its proximity to basic services, many of those calculations go out the window when it comes to a market comprised of second homes. “Nobody needs anything out here,” says Chris Foglia, a broker at the Hamptons-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty. “They all want.”…
Kim’s Testy Factory Trips Show Push to Fix North Korea Economy
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State media show leader berating officials for poor work
- Regime plays down weapons program in push for development
While touring a backpack factory in North Korea’s remote northeast, Kim Jong Un dressed down ruling party officials for lacking “revolutionary spirit” — and ordered workers to sew twice as much sponge in the shoulder straps to spare schoolchildren any discomfort.
Kim’s visit to the Chongjin Bag Factory was among a flurry of industrial inspections reported by North Korean state media in recent days, in which he complained of his “great anxiety” caused by delays and poor workmanship. The reports appeared to illustrate Kim’s impatience for upgrading his impoverished economy as he looks to ease tensions with China, South Korea and the U.S. after declaring complete his quest to build a nuclear arsenal…
U.K. Housing Market Is Stuck in the Doldrums
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RICS measure of house prices stood at minus 3 in May
- Brexit, taxes and stretched valuations are hurting activity
The U.K. housing market stayed stuck in a rut in May as activity and prices remained broadly flat, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
RICS’s gauge of prices came in at minus 3 last month, up from minus 7 in April but still consistent with no change in prices, the organization said in a report Thursday. While there were some cause for optimism, with a measure of new instructions turning positive for the first time in 27 months, forward-looking indexes suggested the market is unlikely to gain near-term impetus, RICS said…
San Francisco housing has entered into a new reality. Tech money and foreign cash continues to flood the market and pushing prices to astronomical levels. The typical San Francisco crap shack now will cost you $1.42 million, a new record high with condos going for $1.15 million. The city is entering into escape velocity of gentrification. You have older Taco Tuesday baby boomers with rudimentary tech knowledge that bought decades ago living next to a new generation of wealth and tech savvy professionals. You see this as well in Los Angeles. Some real estate “experts” barely have a working understanding of tech but definitely know how to navigate to Zillow to view their inflated prices. San Francisco is such an odd case study. A city that outwardly states it supports the poor but when you look at prices even making $100,000 a year makes you part of a new high income poor – at that income level a sizable amount of your net income is going to go to simply paying for housing unless you want to be part of the mega commuting culture that is now emerging in California. What is going on in San Francisco?…
The Housing ATM is back – Cash-out share of all refis hits pre-crisis levels.
Posted by: | CommentsIt was only a matter of time that people started using their homes as ATMs. It is clear that the housing cheerleaders are drinking a mega dose of housing Kool-Aid and somehow think that people are immune from repeating past mistakes. But here we are seeing cash-out refis hitting pre-crisis levels. And this assumption is based on the underlying mentality that yes, a home is really worth that amount and now people are locking in these high price levels. But guess what? You have to pay that money back on your glorified crap shack. This was one of the many reasons for the last housing bubble where people believed the hyped and went into deeper debt because of this notion that a home was an ATM with a roof on it. The overall tone is incredibly housing positive even though there are major issues in the housing market. For example, the homeownership rate is near generational lows and much of the household formation since the bubble burst has come in the form of rentals. Now homes are being used as ATMs. What can go wrong?…
How Did Office Employment Perform in 2017?
Posted by: | CommentsDecember’s payrolls report “showed a modest deceleration in employment, as total private sector job growth at the establishment level rose by 146,000,” which was well below the 239,000 upwardly revised gain in November, according to a new report from Savills Studley. More specifically, office employment grew by 32,000 in December, which the report calls “a disappointment,” given monthly growth averaging 53,000 over the past year.
Apple Manufacturing Fund Awards $390M in Texas
Posted by: | CommentsTerreno Snags $38M CA Industrial Asset
Posted by: | CommentsTerreno Realty Corp. has acquired an industrial property made up of two buildings in Gardena, Calif. The 231,000 square feet of distribution space cost the company $37.6 million. The investment is expected to have a cap rate of approximately 4 percent.
The property is located at 1855 W. 139th St. and can be easily reached via interstates 105, 405 and 110. It is fully leased to a single tenant, Z Gallerie Outlet, a home décor company. Both buildings provide 24 dock-high and three grade-level loading doors and a parking lot accommodating up to 163 vehicles…
Cuomo Urges New York Pension Fund to End Fossil-Fuel Investments
Posted by: | CommentsNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday called on the $201.3 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund to stop all significant fossil-fuel investments and develop a plan to “de-carbonize” the portfolio.
“Moving the Common Fund away from fossil-fuel investments will protect the retirement savings of New Yorkers,” Cuomo said in a statement. He cited recent moves by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund to divest fossil fuels and the World Bank’s announcement that it will stop financing oil and gas exploration within two years…
Cuomo Urges New York Pension Fund to End Fossil-Fuel Investments
10 Federal Adds Grows NC Self-Storage Portfolio
Posted by: | CommentsSavills Studley Inks New Office Lease
Posted by: | CommentsSavills Studley has expanded its elbowroom in Denver with a relocation to 1125 17th St., a 492,800-square-foot office tower in the city’s Midtown submarket. The commercial real estate services firm staked a claim to approximately 8,500 square feet at the building, which was acquired by Hines in a partnership with Pearlmark and Goldman Sachs & Co. in January of this year for $169.7 million.
Bedrock Reveals $2B, Multi-Project Plan for Detroit
Posted by: | CommentsChange is afoot in Detroit and Bedrock is behind some of it. The local real estate firm recently announced plans for four transformative developments that will bring millions of square feet of office, residential, retail and other commercial offerings to the city at a total cost of $2.1 billion.
“Detroit is going vertical,” Dan Gilbert, Bedrock founder & chairman, said in a prepared statement. “In fact, that is the only way to create any type of significant expansion in the city because we are virtually at full occupancy for residential and commercial space in both downtown and midtown.”…
Amazon to Create 2,000 Jobs in New Manhattan Office
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359,000 square feet on west side to house advertising
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Project comes amid bids for larger, second headquarters
Amazon.com Inc. is set to open a large new office in New York City and create 2,000 high-paying jobs.
The e-commerce giant, which already has several locations across the city, will expand its presence with a 359,000 square-foot office in Manhattan that will employ people in finance, sales, marketing and information technology earning an average of $100,000 annually. Amazon will invest $55 million in the building project on Manhattan’s west side, according to a statement from the office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. The space, at Brookfield Property Partner’s Five Manhattan West, will be the primary New York location for Amazon’s advertising, the real estate firm said…
Cushman & Wakefield Arranges New Leases at FL Business Center
Posted by: | CommentsA team of brokers from Cushman & Wakefield represented MSG Port 95, the owner of Port 95 Business Center, in closing long-term agreements with two Broward County businesses. General Insulation, an insulation distributor and supplier, is relocating from Pompano Beach to Dania Beach with a move-in date scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2017. The other business is Kaman Industrial Technologies, a subsidiary of Kaman Corp., which is planning to consolidate several locations in a single one. The company plans to move into the new space in September.
QIM Hedge Fund Soars 56% This Year
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Equity hedge funds are the top performers last month
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Coatue pool gains 27% for the year, Renaissance fund up 11%
The tactical hedge fund at Quantitative Investment Management, the $3.4 billion firm run by Jaffray Woodriff, surged an estimated 56 percent this year through August, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg News.
The firm’s systematic long-short equity Tactical Aggressive Fund rose an estimated 14 percent in August, after falling 7.4 percent in July. This marks the $1.2 billion fund’s third monthly gain of more than 10 percent this year, the letter from the Charlottesville, Virginia-based firm showed…
Knowing Where to Look 10 Years After Start of Financial Crisis
Posted by: | CommentsJust five minutes before Monday’s solar eclipse, hundreds of beachgoers along Cape Cod National Seashore were donning special glasses and positioning empty cereal boxes with pinholes in them, tittering with anticipation to see the moon begin to blot out much of the sun. As a result, they missed something far more exciting some 10 yards offshore.
A hungry great white shark was attacking a harbor seal. It snatched the poor creature in its jaws and hurled it toward the shore, among bodysurfing and boogie-boarding youngsters. Those, like my son, who had been watching the water, saw the seal breach out of a foaming commotion of water and blood and yelled “shark!”…
Informa Consolidates NYC Offices in Midtown
Posted by: | CommentsAcademic publishing, exhibitions and events company Informa PLC signed a 10-year, 59,613-square-foot lease at 605 Third Ave., a premier Class A office building in Midtown Manhattan. The tenant will occupy the entire 20th, 21st and 22nd floors, relocating and consolidating its operations from five different New York City offices. The move is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2018.
Iberostar Opens 2nd U.S. Hotel in Miami
Posted by: | CommentsIberostar Hotels & Resorts has opened Iberostar Berkeley, a 96-key hotel located in Miami Beach. The opening of the four-star property followed the $43 million redevelopment of the Barkley Shore Hotel, an historic Art Deco building built in 1940.
Iberostar Berkeley marks the second U.S. property for the Spanish chain and 36th in the Americas, following the opening a 205-key four-star boutique hotel at 70 Park Ave., in Midtown Manhattan.
The firm is aiming to expand its urban collection of properties with 15 hotels over the next three years, including properties in such cities as Budapest, Barcelona, Lisbon, Lima and Havana…
Wells Fargo Vice Chairwoman to Succeed Departing Chairman
Posted by: | CommentsAfter a turbulent and scandal-filled year at Wells Fargo, the bank’s chairman is headed for the exit.
Stephen W. Sanger, 71, will retire at the end of the year and will be succeeded by Elizabeth A. Duke, 65, a former Federal Reserve Board governor. Ms. Duke joined the Wells Fargo board in 2015 and became its vice chairwoman last year. She was the board’s unanimous choice to take over, Mr. Sanger said on Tuesday in a statement announcing the changes.
Mr. Sanger will leave the board in December, with two other directors, Cynthia H. Milligan and Susan G. Swenson, who both joined the board in the 1990s. Juan A. Pujadas, a retired PricewaterhouseCoopers executive, will join the board next month…
Walker & Dunlop Secures $59M for Atlanta Asset
Posted by: | CommentsWalker & Dunlop closed $59 million in bridge and equity financing on behalf of Praelium Commercial Real Estate and South Street Partners for the acquisition of Newmarket Business Park in Marietta, Ga.
The debt was placed by a debt fund and arranged as a floating rate bridge loan with full-term interest-only payments. A hedge fund invested the equity.
Mori Begins Construction on Indonesian Office Tower
Posted by: | CommentsMori Building began construction on its Class A office tower in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Project marks Mori Building’s first development in Southeast Asia.
Shimizu Corp. and Bangun Cipta Kontraktor are jointly serving as the development contractors and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates designed the tower. Kohn Perdersen Fox is also in charge with the design of a Hong Kong mixed-use development…
Stos Partners Buys Rare San Diego Industrial Asset
Posted by: | CommentsStos Partners acquired a 170,805-square-foot complex comprising two multi-tenant industrial buildings in Chula Vista, Calif. The property traded off-market for $13.5 million.
Michael Mossmer, senior vice president of Voit Real Estate Services, represented the buyer, as well as the seller, a private family.
Located at 1670-1690 Brandywine Ave., the assets benefit from immediate access to Interstate 805. The properties feature a fire sprinkler system, heavy power, dock-high and grade-level loading doors, and the clear heights range between 22 and 26 feet…
DoubleTree by Hilton Chicago-Oak Brook Changes Hands
Posted by: | CommentsThe upscale DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Oak Brook, Ill., has a new owner. PHF Oak Brook, an affiliate of Fillmore Capital Partners and the previous owner of the property, tapped CBRE Hotels to close the transaction on its behalf. The brokers involved in the deal were Senior Vice President Nate Sahn and First Vice President Peter Greene.
PROVIDING THE UTMOST COMFORT
Located at 1909 Spring Road, in a booming business and retail area, the hotel offers an array of amenities to accommodate business and private events:
LBA Hospitality to Launch 2 New Orlando Hotels
Posted by: | CommentsLBA Hospitality will open two new properties close to the SeaWorld theme park in Orlando, Fla. TownePlace Suites by Marriott and Holiday Inn Express and Suites will add more than 125 jobs and 369 keys, combined. Mandala Holdings owns the two hotels.
Ex-RBC Trader Damian Edwards Starts Asia Event-Driven Hedge Fund
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Metrica Partners to start this month with $25 million in funds
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Edwards sees best opportunities in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong
Damian Edwards, a former managing director at Royal Bank of Canada, is starting an Asian event-driven hedge fund to take advantage of a surge in mergers and acquisitions in the region.
Metrica Partners Pte plans to start this month with $25 million, Edwards said in an interview in Singapore. The equity-focused fund has five staff and will invest about half its money in Japan, with the remainder split between Hong Kong and the rest of Asia, he said…
Hedge Funds Pile In to Long Bets on Bonds Just as Dangers Build
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Fast money amasses record amount of 10-year Treasury futures
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Fed meeting, Treasury refunding may buffet bonds this week
The fast money in the $14 trillion Treasuries market may turn out to be too slow.
For the first time since July, hedge funds and other large speculators are bullish on Treasuries across the yield curve, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The shift in 10-year futures was particularly striking, with the group adding an unprecedented 255,942 net-long contracts as of the latest figures, covering the week through April 25. Their bias is so skewed toward gains that the group is the most vulnerable to a bond-market selloff since 2008…
Horizon Sells Oklahoma City Mall for $130M
Posted by: | CommentsThe Outlet Resource Group and Singerman Real Estate snapped up the 400,000-square-foot retail property at 7624 West Reno Ave., which functions as the state’s only outlet center.
After six years of ownership, Horizon Group Properties and co-developer CBL & Associates Properties Inc. announced that their first joint venture and one of the largest shopping centers in their portfolio sold for $130 million. Executive Vice President of CBRE Richard Frolik represented the seller.
Starting May 1st, 2017, The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City will operate under The Outlet Resource Group (TORG) and Singerman Real Estate, with Avison Young as property manager…
Top Hedge Fund Turns to Australian Cannabis Firm for Next Bet
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Tribeca Investment Partners buys into Cann Group IPO
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Cann Group has a license to grow cannabis for medical use
Tribeca Investment Partners Pty, owner of the world’s best-performing hedge fund last year, has found its next stock pick: a tiny grower of cannabis.
The Sydney-based money manager has bought shares in the initial public offering of Cann Group, the only Australian company that has a federal government license to cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to Ben Cleary, who co-manages the Tribeca Global Natural Resources Fund with Craig Evans. The fund, which soared 145 percent in 2016, is up 2.7 percent this year through the end of March.
Peso and Ringgit Finally Flourish and Spur Equity Gains
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Philippine shares reverse 2 quarters of outflows on tax reform
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Oil prices, possible early election boost Malaysian equities
Better late than never. The Philippine peso and Malaysian ringgit have clambered aboard the Asian currency rally, advancing against the dollar and spurring flows into equity markets.
Global funds have poured $485 million into Malaysian stocks and $198 million into the Philippines since the end of March as the countries’ currencies strengthened 2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. That’s a dramatic turnaround considering both declined more than four percent in 2016 and hit decade lows this year.
ICBC’s Quarterly Profit Rises as Bad-Loan Ratio Stabilizes
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NPL ratio falls to 1.59% as bad-loan coverage improves
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Rival Agricultural Bank reports 1.9% profit increase
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by assets, reported its strongest quarterly profit growth in two years as soured credit and lending margins stabilized amid an uptick in the economy.
Net income rose 1.4 percent to 75.79 billion yuan ($11 billion) in the three months ended March 31 from 74.76 billion yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based lender said in an exchange filing on Friday. Rival lender Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. separately reported a 1.9 percent profit increase for the period…
Allentown to Harbor Tallest Building in Lehigh Valley
Posted by: | CommentsFive City Center will break ground in 2018 and will include a 24-story office tower, two residential buildings totaling 225 apartments and a 1.7-acre park.
Five City Center Campus bids defiance to Lehigh Valley’s Martin Tower and PPL Building. In a recent meeting with the board of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority, real estate investor City Center Investment Corp. presented its plans for a three-building complex in downtown Allentown, which will include the tallest office tower in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Estimated costs are $250 million and the project is set to commence next year at 700 Hamilton St. Development plans are under review for approval and a response from the board is expected by the end of May. The owners tapped Studios Architecture and Land Collective to handle the master development services…
U.K. House Prices Fall for Second Month Amid Pinch on Consumers
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April’s 0.4% monthly decline is the biggest since 2012
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Nationwide says may be sign of deeper consumer weakness
U.K. house prices fell for a second month in April, adding to signs of consumer weakness, according to Nationwide Building Society.
The 0.4 percent decline, the biggest since 2012, followed a 0.3 percent fall in March. It reduced annual growth to 2.6 percent, the weakest since June 2013, the lender said in a report on Friday…
U.K. House Prices Fall for Second Month Amid Pinch on Consumers
Minimal Paperwork? No Problem for Mortgages in This Deal
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Lone Star unit sold more than $375 million of mortgage bonds
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Around a quarter of mortgages were made with low documentation
A unit of private equity firm Lone Star Funds sold more than $375 million of bonds backed by mortgages requiring minimal documentation from borrowers, a practice that before the 2008 financial crisis contributed to the creation of “liar loans.”
Over 20 percent of the loans packaged into the Lone Star bonds were made to borrowers who proved their income with just a single month’s worth of bank statements, documents tied to the deal and seen by Bloomberg show…
Wells Fargo Chairman Should Listen to Investors and Step Down
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s time to add Wells Fargo’s chairman, Stephen W. Sanger, to the list of firings over the creation of millions of fake accounts.
Just 56 percent of shareholders backed Mr. Sanger at the bank’s annual meeting on Tuesday. That’s a stinging rebuke for his failure as lead director. After 5,300 employees and the chief executive, John G. Stumpf, paid with their jobs, Mr. Sanger and other board members with lackluster support should go, too, to help the bank rehabilitate.
City Greenlights Transformative Atlanta Project
Posted by: | CommentsGrant Park Gateway stems from a 2015 study by the city looking at current and future traffic and parking demands for Grant Park and Zoo Atlanta. The development will be funded through bond revenue and supplemented by additional sources.
An existing eight-acre surface parking lot next to Zoo Atlanta will be transformed into an underground parking and mobility facility with a park on the roof in a $48 million project unveiled by the City of Atlanta.
Home Capital Director Keohane Resigns After Fund Backs Loan
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Mortgage lender said to borrow C$2 billion from HOOPP
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Ability to raise GIC deposits, maintain operations uncertain
The head of an Ontario pension plan has stepped down as a director of Home Capital Group Inc. after his fund agreed to provide a C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) loan to help offset a run on deposits at the struggling Canadian mortgage lender.
Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Keohane said he recused himself from the lending talks and stepped away from Home Capital’s board last Tuesday before formally resigning on Thursday. He also said that Kevin Smith, Home Capital’s chairman, has stepped down from HOOPP’s board…
Trump Tax Plan Silent on Carried Interest, a Boon for the Very Rich
Posted by: | CommentsWhen the Trump administration unveiled its outline of a tax plan on Wednesday, officials trumpeted a bold promise to shave the corporate tax rate to a flat 15 percent and sharply reduce taxes for ordinary Americans.
But one crucial issue they left unaddressed: how the administration plans to deal with the so-called carried interest loophole, a tax treatment enjoyed by some of the richest people on Wall Street.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump pledged to close the loophole and make its beneficiaries, private equity and hedge fund executives among them, pay their fair share of taxes. He once proclaimed that “hedge fund guys are getting away with murder.”
Honeywell Taps M Moser To Develop New Atlanta Tech Building
Posted by: | CommentsThe new office will support Honeywell’s evolution towards becoming recognized as a software business and serve to better showcase its leadership.
Located at 715 Peachtree St. NE, the facility will serve as the global headquarters for the company’s Home and Building Technologies (HBT) business, adding to the city’s thriving technology scene.
“As Honeywell continues to drive transformative attitudes across their global solutions footprint, the Atlanta Software Development and Connected Experience Center embodies just that – transformative stewardship through design excellence,” Michael Bonomo, M Moser’s creative director USA, told Commercial Property Executive. “Our team has collaborated with Honeywell colleagues to create a facility that draws best-in-class software developers and product creators, while also supporting them in leading their IOT technologies through an immersive facility driving more intelligent spaces for the world.”
JLL Strengthens SoCal Retail Practice with VP Hire
Posted by: | CommentsDan Gill has more than 25 years of experience in the industry and will be based in the firm’s San Diego office. The move is part of the firm’s plan to expand its retail platform.
JLL has hired Dan Gill as vice president to expand its Southern California retail practice. Gill is based in the firm’s San Diego office, where he will join Retail Brokerage Lead Craig Killman in representing retailers and landlords across the region.
Gill brings more than 25 years of experience in the retail real estate industry. Prior to JLL, he owned The Gill Group and has more than 175 transactions under his belt. Gill holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst…
Hermes Invests in France as Macron, Le Pen Joust Over Jobs
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Birkin bag maker invests in French output to meet Asian demand
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Quarterly sales beat estimates as China rebound accelerates
Hermes International SCA is hiring workers and investing in French production to meet surging demand for handbags in Asia, boosting the economy as presidential elections highlight the country’s struggle to create jobs.
The Paris-based luxury-goods company is expanding its network of domestic workshops that make bags like the Kelly and Birkin, it said Thursday in reporting quarterly sales that beat estimates. For Hermes, a “made in France” label is an intrinsic part of the appeal of its handbags, which are coveted in Asia and elsewhere as an emblem of French chic…
Hong Kong Dollar Drop Has Origin in Property-Lending Rumbles
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Currency is at its weakest against greenback since early 2016
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Interest-rate divergence between Hong Kong and U.S. widens
Where U.S. interest rates go, Hong Kong’s follow. At least that’s the theory with the territory’s pegged currency system.
It’s not always the case. There was a sharp divergence in rates in 2003, when Hong Kong’s economy was hit by the impact of the deadly SARS virus, causing a drop in lending that generated a surfeit of liquidity, driving down rates. Local dynamics are causing a gap again, though now it has nothing to do with face masks — it’s all about real-estate lending…
Robert Brierley Moves Up the Ladder at Colliers
Posted by: | CommentsThe new executive vice president’s track record includes positions with Brookfield Office Properties, Equity Office Properties, Beacon Properties and Gilbane Properties.
Colliers International New England recently promoted Robert Brierley to managing director of its real estate management services (REMS) division and executive vice president of Colliers Boston.
Brierley joined Colliers’ REMS team in 2013, as senior vice president, his professional track record also including positions with Brookfield Office Properties, Equity Office Properties, Beacon Properties and Gilbane Properties. As vice president of operations with Brookfield Office Properties, he was responsible for managing a Class A, 2.1 million-square-foot portfolio with a value of more than $1 billion and an annual operating budget in excess of $50 million…
Lloyds Shakes Off Brexit Concern as Lending Margins Increase
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Bank’s pretax profit beats estimates as revenue rises
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Lloyds boosts 2017 guidance for lending net interest margin
Follow @Brexit for all the latest news, and sign up to our daily Brexit Bulletin newsletter.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc isn’t getting bruised by Brexit so far.
Britain’s largest mortgage bank boosted its target for lending margins this year, even amid record-low U.K. interest rates introduced in the wake of the nation’s vote to leave the European Union. Net interest income rose 1 percent to 2.93 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) in the first quarter, topping most analysts’ estimates.
Bond Vigilantes Lie In Wait for Trump’s Debt-Swelling Tax Plan
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Concerned about growing deficits? Watch these 4 market signals
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Goldman Sachs says proposal released this week faces long road
The Trump administration’s tax plan — and its disregard for the effect it would have on the federal budget deficit — is certain to pique the interest of a long-dormant segment of bond investors.
So-called bond vigilantes, once feared for enforcing restraint on spendthrift governments, have struggled to flex their muscles in recent years as global central banks stepped in to buy a glut of sovereign debt. Now may be the time for a comeback, with the Federal Reserve talking about trimming its Treasury holdings while the administration’s tax plan could spur more borrowing to cover a shortfall (assuming the projected economic growth doesn’t materialize)…
Downtown Nashville Land Hits the Market
Posted by: | CommentsZoned for a range of uses, the site could accommodate residential, office, retail or all of the above. The increasingly high-profile nature of the market is resulting in continuous growth of capital investments.
With the assistance of Compass Auctions & Real Estate LLC, the State of Tennessee is auctioning two parcels totaling 2.1 acres in downtown Nashville, paving the way for a developer to capitalize on city’s ongoing upswing.
The offering consists of 450 James Robertson Parkway., an approximately 0.9-acre tract of land and the neighboring 1.2-acre parcel at 460 James Robertson Parkway. Zoned for a range of uses, the site could accommodate residential, office, retail or all the above…
Pending Sales of Previously Owned U.S. Homes Retreated in March
Posted by: | CommentsContracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes declined in March after rising a month earlier by the most since 2010, according to figures released Thursday from the National Association of Realtors in Washington.
Key Points
- Pending home sales index fell 0.8 percent (forecast was for a 1 percent decrease) after jumping 5.5 percent the prior month
- Index climbed 0.5 percent from March 2016 on an unadjusted basis
- Pending sales dropped in three of four U.S regions month-to-month…
Pending Sales of Previously Owned U.S. Homes Retreated in March
Homeownership Ready to Rise After Hitting an All-Time Low
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First-quarter gain in owners was biggest in more than a decade
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Wage growth, rising confidence pushing more people to buy
The U.S. homeownership rate is finally poised to rise significantly as household formations by owners grew faster in the first quarter than those by renters — the first time that’s happened in more than a decade.
While the share of Americans who owned their homes was up only slightly from a year earlier, at 63.6 percent, the number of new owners jumped by more than 850,000, compared with an increase in renter households of 365,000. The 1.1 percent year-over-year gain in owners was also the biggest since 2006, according to an analysis by Trulia of Census Bureau data released Thursday…
CBC Advisors Opens New Ontario Office
Posted by: | CommentsThe company also promoted Daniel Richards to managing principal of the Ontario region and Rene Ramos Jr. to senior vice president of industrial brokerage.
Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors expands its Ontario, Calif., operations with the opening of a new full-service commercial real estate office located in the first building at 3959 Inland Empire Blvd. With this occasion, Daniel Richards was named managing principal of the Ontario region, while Rene Ramos Jr. will serve as senior vice president, industrial brokerage.
Richards owns more than 25 commercial real estate properties and has developed more than 35 projects. Ramos joined Coldwell Banker in 2005 and was named this year’s top producing Coldwell industrial broker globally…
Billion-Dollar Mixed-Use Project Kicks Off in DC
Posted by: | CommentsThe Parks at Walter Reed, a $1 billion mixed-use project in Washington, D.C., gets underway as TPWR Developer LLC—a joint venture of Hines, Urban Atlantic and Triden Development Group—breaks ground on the 3.1 million-square-foot transformative undertaking…
This Hedge Fund May Be Poised to Create the Most Billionaires
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Laufer joins Simons among world’s richest on Medallion returns
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Mercer and Brown, near-billionaires, at odds over Trump
Henry Laufer was teaching math at Stony Brook University on Long Island in the late 1980s when he got a call from Jim Simons. A former colleague, Simons had left academia to start Renaissance Technologies a mile down the road, and his hedge fund was struggling. Would Laufer help him find a better way to predict commodity prices?
HFF Closes $82M Recapitalization of MOB Portfolio
Posted by: | CommentsThe company acted on behalf of TRITEC Real Estate, which developed the Long Island business park, totaling more than one million square feet, over a period of twenty years.
HFF has closed the $81.5 million recapitalization of Stony Brook Technology Center, an eight-building medical office portfolio totaling 261,824 square feet in the Long Island community of East Setauket, N.Y. HFF’s Senior Managing Directors Andrew Scandalios, Jose Cruz and Michael Gigliotti represented developer TRITEC Real Estate and procured the partner, a fund advised by UBS Real Estate & Private Markets…
RLJ, FelCor to Merge in $1.2B All-Stock Deal
Posted by: | CommentsThe all-stock, $1.2 billion planned merger of RLJ Lodging Trust and FelCor Lodging Trust Inc. has left a few people guessing. The deal, which would create the third-largest pure-play lodging REIT, with a total enterprise value of $7 billion, would see FelCor folded into RLJ, a move that was deemed a “head scratcher” by at least two analysts…
After a Bitter Divorce, a $27 Million Penthouse Hits the Market
Posted by: | CommentsBefore Sarah Pursglove and her husband, the Finnish entrepreneur Robert Oesterlund, became the subjects of one of the most high-profile divorces in recent history, they were considering a change of scenery. (Oesterlund’s efforts to make as much as $400 million “disappear” were chronicled in the New York Times Magazine.) With homes in Finland, the U.S., and the Bahamas already, “we were looking at places in Canada and interested in something that would be similar to New York, and walkable,” Pursglove said…
After a Bitter Divorce, a $27 Million Penthouse Hits the Market
Lee & Associates to Manage 224 KFS Office Center
Posted by: | CommentsThe company is ready to start leasing and management services for Maryland Corporate Center, a four-building office property in Lanham, Md.
Maryland Corporate Center, a four-building, 224,000-square-foot commercial office center located in Lanham, Md., is getting ready to welcome new tenants now that Lee & Associates won the leasing and asset management contract.
Lee & Associate, the largest broker-owned firm in North America, has won the contract from Melrose Holdings LLC. The team that will run the leasing and marketing strategy comprises Lee & Associates Senior Vice President Bill Harrison, Principal Kate Jordan and Associate Austin Ever, while Director of Property Management Michelle Kimos will supervise the asset management activities…
Investcorp Adds $160M to Chicago, Boston Portfolios
Posted by: | CommentsInvestcorp has invested $160 million in an industrial portfolio of six properties located in the Chicago and Boston metropolitan areas.
The portfolio consists of an aggregate of approximately 1.8 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space…
China’s Didi Said Near Deal to Become Most Valuable Asia Startup
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Ride-hailing service plans to raise at least $5 billion
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Didi said to raise funds for automated driving expansion
Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is near an agreement to raise at least $5 billion in a deal that would make it the most valuable startup in China, according to people familiar with the matter.