Archive for Uncategorized
NYC Carbon Challenge Expansion Heralds a Greener Big Apple
Posted by: | CommentsNo fewer than 22 additional participants have committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their buildings by 30 percent or more over the next 10 years.
New York—Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) have officially launched the NYC Carbon Challenge for Commercial Owners and Tenants, a public-private partnership aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from commercial buildings throughout the city over the next 10 years.
Commercial buildings account for roughly 30 percent of New York City’s GHG emissions and the energy used in the leased office spaces accounts for 40 to 60 percent of the total energy consumption in a typical office building…
Goldman Sachs Breaks With Government Sachs on Immigrant Ban
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Blankfein says immigration order has potential to disrupt firm
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CEO joins other U.S. executives in denouncing Trump policy
Goldman Sachs is pushing back against Government Sachs.
In a sharply worded message to staff, Lloyd Blankfein, the bank’s long-time head, broke with the Trump administration over its controversial attempt to crack down on immigration. The voicemail, sent Sunday to the firm’s 34,400 employees, pits Blankfein against an administration stocked with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. veterans, including his former No. 2, Gary Cohn, and key Trump adviser Steven Bannon…
Goldman Sachs Breaks With Government Sachs on Immigrant Ban
Wall Street Reassures Employees, Without Wholly Rejecting Travel Ban
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The finance world delivered a largely muted response to President Trump’s temporary ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, even as other industries took far stronger stances.CreditBenjamin Norman for The New York Times
Wall Street is an industry built on courting clients around the globe and hiring some of the best and brightest, wherever they may be.
But the finance world delivered a largely muted response to President Trump’s temporary ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, even as other industries took far stronger stances on the action, casting it in moral terms.
Asana Partners Closes Initial Fund at $500M
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(L to R): Terry Brown, Sam Judd and Jason TompkinsThe fund reportedly was oversubscribed and achieved its hard cap of $500 million within nine months of launch, with commitments from a diverse set of investors that included state, municipal and corporate pension funds; insurance companies; and endowments.
European Debt Crisis Memories Rattle Markets, Defy Confidence
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Bond yields jump from France to Greece on political concerns
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Quickening German inflation also raises doubts on ECB support
Europeans are more confident about their economy than they’ve been in nearly six years, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the markets.
Investors dumped bonds and stocks across the region on Monday, spurred by a confluence of risks that echoed the euro-zone debt crisis. French and Italian election campaigns stoked concerns over the rise of anti-euro political powers, while inflation in Germany signaled European Central Bank stimulus may not last much longer. Meantime, Greece, the catalyst for the original crisis, reached another crossroads with its creditors…
Foundry Commercial to Develop 1 MSF Industrial Park
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Beltway Business Park in Charlotte, N.C.
Charlotte, N.C.—Foundry Commercial recently closed on a new industrial development site in the Airport West submarket of Charlotte. Formerly known as Beltway Business Park, the asset will provide roughly 1.1 million square feet of space once complete. Foundry partnered with Principal Real Estate Investors on the project, which is set to be rebranded as WestPark 85.
SL Green Partners Up on $3B NYC Office Project
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One VanderbiltBuffett’s Go-To Billionaire Dealmaker Has Wall Street on Edge
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Lemann has done blockbuster food deals roughly every two years
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Possible 3G targets for Kraft Heinz include Mondelez, Kellogg
It’s time for Jorge Paulo Lemann to get back in the hunt.
That, anyway, is the word inside the food industry, where the Brazilian billionaire has been doing blockbuster deals roughly every two years. In 2013, he persuaded Warren Buffett to team up on H.J. Heinz. Then, in 2015, the duo orchestrated the $55 billion merger of Heinz and Kraft Foods…
Buffett’s Go-To Billionaire Dealmaker Has Wall Street on Edge
CBRE Long Island Promotes Roy Chipkin to SVP
Posted by: | CommentsAs senior vice president, Chipkin will continue to represent both landlords and tenants in office space leasing transactions throughout Long Island and other New York City boroughs.
Roy Chipkin, CBRE Long Island’s new SVP
Long Island, N.Y.—CBRE recently announced the promotion of Roy Chipkin to senior vice president of the group’s Long Island office. Previously a first vice president, Chipkin is known in the industry as one of the most active real estate service providers in Long Island. In his new position, Chipkin will represent landlords and tenants in the leasing and subleasing of office space around the Long Island region.
Taxi Medallion Prices Are Plummeting, Endangering Loans
Posted by: | CommentsRide-sharing apps are distressing traditional cab companies (and their debt).
There’s a good reason your cab driver is so cranky: His livelihood might be teetering on the edge of default. According to a recent presentation prepared for Capital One Financial Corp. investors, some 81 percent of its $690 million in loans for taxi medallions are at risk of default.
Medallions, the small metal shields affixed to the hoods of taxi cabs, are issued by the local taxi authority and effectively allow the cabs to operate legally. Owning one used to be akin to owning a gas-guzzling, money-printing machine. Medallions in New York City traded at more than $1 million in 2014, but today’s prices are about half of that…
Richmond Investor Nabs Newport News Union Bank Building
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603 Pilot House Drive in Newport News, Va.
Newport News, Va.—Divaris Real Estate Inc. recently closed the sale of the Union Bank building, a Class A, four-story property in Newport News. The company’s Jason Oliver and Alex Divaris represented seller, NN Plaza LP.
The property was bought by an undisclosed Richmond-based private investor for roughly $3.4 million. According to Newport News property records, the building changed hands on Jan. 11 and was acquired by Oyster Point BB LLC, a Midlothian-based company with the same address as PECK Properties, a family-owned commercial real estate firm. The property last changed hands ten years ago for $2.4 million…
U.S. Pending-Home Sales Rebound Despite Rise in Mortgage Rates
Posted by: | CommentsContracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes rebounded last month as buyers adjusted to the recent jump in mortgage rates, according to figures released Monday from the National Association of Realtors in Washington.
Key Points
- Pending home-sales gauge rises 1.6 percent from previous month (forecast was for 1 percent gain) after falling 2.5 percent the prior month
- Index dropped 2 percent from December 2015 on an unadjusted basis
- Pending sales increased in two of four U.S. regions from November…
U.S. Pending-Home Sales Rebound Despite Rise in Mortgage Rates
Luxury Waterpark Coming to Nashville
Posted by: | CommentsNashville, Tenn.—Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. is developing SoundWaves, a $90 million luxury indoor/outdoor waterpark, adjacent to Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville.
The proposed project would consist of 111,000 square feet of upscale indoor water attractions and activities over three levels and another 106,000 square feet of outdoor water amenities…
‘Becoming Warren Buffett’ Goes Beyond a $74 Billion Fortune
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Susan and Warren Buffett in the HBO documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett.” Creditvia HBO
Warren E. Buffett isn’t exactly an unknown quantity.
As America’s most famous investor and the possessor of what Forbes estimates is a $74 billion fortune, he has been the subject of endless scrutiny across print and film, most without his participation. But to Mr. Buffett, one of the appeals of agreeing to let the cameras into his life for “Becoming Warren Buffett,” an HBO documentary debuting on Monday, was to tell his story in a relatively new way.
Colliers Tapped to Lease Iconic Orlando High-Rise
Posted by: | CommentsTraders Confounded by 180% Surge in Brazil’s Homebuilders
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PDG, Rossi said they’d restructure debt amid recession
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Slumping demand for new homes may deepen industry’s woes
The breathtaking surge in Brazil’s troubled homebuilders has traders scratching their heads.
Shares of PDG Realty SA and Rossi Residencial SA — which last year announced plans to restructure debt in the midst of a recession that has throttled demand for new homes — have each jumped at least 180 percent since Jan. 1. That compares with a gain of just over 8.2 percent for the benchmark regional stock gauge…
Traders Confounded by 180% Surge in Brazil’s Homebuilders
Silicon Valley’s Ambivalence Toward Trump Turns to Anger
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A protest at San Francisco International Airport against President Trump’s immigration order on Saturday.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — On Friday morning, Silicon Valley was largely ambivalent about President Trump. The software programmers, marketing experts and chief executives might not have voted for him, but they were hopeful about finding common ground with the new administration.
By Saturday night, much of that optimism had yielded to anger and determination.
Serendipity Labs Sets Up Shop in Nashville, Denver
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John Arenas, CEO of Serendipity Labs CoworkingWall Street Rates Traders Said to Get Up to 20% Bonus Increases
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Firms boost bonus pools for traders in government bonds, swaps
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Rates traders outperformed other fixed-income peers in 2016
It’s a good time to be a rates trader on Wall Street.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the world’s biggest investment bank by revenue, boosted its 2016 bonus pool for traders dealing in government bonds, swaps and other assets tied to interest rates by about 20 percent, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing compensation. At Morgan Stanley, the bonus pool for rates traders climbed more than 10 percent, and at Bank of America Corp. the average bonus for those employees increased more than 10 percent, other people said…
Fate of UBS Is in the Hands of Fickle Markets
Posted by: | CommentsInvesting in UBS is a bet on an uncertain world.
The Swiss bank reckons resurgent investors may bolster its tepid 6.1 percent return on equity for 2016. But after a fourth quarter marked by net outflows of $5.4 billion and a further withering of wealth management margins, the hopes of the bank’s chief executive, Sergio Ermotti, for a pickup in activity need quick consummation.
Investment banking and wealth management in the Americas were bright spots in the three months to December. UBS has less firepower in fixed-income trading, which has been booming. But revenue jumps in equities trading and in the origination and advisory business were bigger than at its rivals. Meanwhile, higher short-term interest rates and higher fees helped revenue at UBS Wealth Management Americas…
Major B’More High-Rise Breaks Ground
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One Light StreetScaramucci Scores Millions From Buyer With Mystery Investors
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Hedge fund impresario selling SkyBridge on way to White House
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Transaction said to value firm at $180 million or more
A few days after Anthony Scaramucci lined up a top job in Donald Trump’s White House, he struck a multimillion-dollar deal to exit his investment firm, selling part of his interest to a little-known company, RON Transatlantic EG.
Scaramucci, the organizer of a popular hedge fund conference, said in an interview Friday that he doesn’t know the identity of RON’s investors and relied, as is customary, on RON’s managers to vet them. Spokesmen for his firm, SkyBridge Capital, and for RON declined to say who the investors are…
Orlando Flex Portfolio Trades for $19M
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Cypress Industrial Park, Orlando, Fla.
Orlando, Fla.—Militello Capital and Denholtz Associates recently acquired Cypress Industrial Park, a five-building industrial flex portfolio located in Orlando. The 256,838-square-foot asset traded for $18.5 million, with capital support led by financial advisors seeking access to vetted and privately held income-producing real estate investments on behalf of their clients.
Located at 9500-9901 Satellite Blvd. on a 23.5-acre site, the flex design of the five single-story buildings offers tenant suites ranging from 1,726 to 33,600 square feet. The buildings completed between 1987 and 1997 feature grade-level and dock-high loading and an average clear height of 19’6”.
IMF Warns Eurogroup Loan Measures Not Enough for Greek Debt
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Greek debt is highly unsustainable; measures not specific
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Debt will jump as high as 275 percent of GDP by 2060
Greece’s public debt and financing needs will prove “explosive” in decades to come unless Europe overhauls its bailout program to ease the load, the International Monetary Fund says in a draft report as the country seeks a fresh loan payout.
In the IMF’s baseline scenario, Greece’s government debt will reach 275 percent of its gross domestic product by 2060, when its financing needs will represent 62 percent of GDP, the report obtained by Bloomberg says. The government estimates public debt around 180 percent of GDP at present…
Berkeley WeWork Building Changes Hands
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2120 University Ave. in Berkeley, Calif.
Berkeley, Calif.—Soma Capital Partners recently announced the sale of 2120 University Ave. in Berkeley to Lionstone Investments. The 50,000-square-foot asset traded for $22.3 million, a record price per square foot for the local market. The transaction was completed in late-December 2016.
The Class A, seven-story office building was originally constructed in 1983 on a 0.2-acre site at the corner of Shattuck and University avenues and is situated a few blocks away from the local BART station. The property is also located near the University of California, in close proximity to the downtown area of the city, and is surrounded by many retailers and restaurants…
Italy’s $21 Billion Bank Rescue Fund Is Sufficient, Visco Says
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Government has ‘more than enough room’ for bank issues: Visco
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Steps last year let Italy ‘deal constructively’ with crises
Italy’s 20 billion-euro ($21.4 billion) government rescue fund is sufficient to recapitalize the country’s troubled banks, and about a third of money will be used for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said.
This $5 Million Desert Mansion Comes With Built-In Art
Posted by: | CommentsAfter the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquakes in Southern California, Stephane Janssen decided it was time to leave Los Angeles. “The earthquake really upset me,” said Janssen, who was born in Belgium. “I was flipping through a magazine and saw an article called “Carefree Life,” — a play on the location, a gated community in Scottsdale, Arizona, called Carefree Ranch— “and looked it up and found three lots I could put together with extraordinary views.”…
This $5 Million Desert Mansion Comes With Built-In Art
Elon Musk Has Trump’s Ear, and Wall Street Takes Note
Posted by: | CommentsThe election of Donald Trump and the accompanying rehabilitation of fossil fuels should have been, by all rights, devastating for Tesla Motors.
Tesla is the top maker of all-electric autos, and it completed its merger with SolarCity, a leading manufacturer of solar energy panels, days after the presidential election.
Elon Musk, the visionary founder of both companies, openly criticized Mr. Trump’s candidacy, saying on CNBC just before the vote that he was “not the right guy” for the job…
Elon Musk Has Trump’s Ear, and Wall Street Takes Note
BKM Sells Industrial Asset in Portland
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Hayden Island Business Park
Portland, Ore.—BKM Capital Partners has sold the first three multi-tenant industrial business parks in its debut fund, which includes a 223,009-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building and a 137,603-square-foot industrial complex in Las Vegas and a 98,516-square-foot business park in Portland.
BKM repositioned and leased up all three assets, ultimately achieving an IRR of 38.5 percent and a 2.4 multiple at the Portland property, Hayden Island Business Park.
The company initially acquired the asset in 2014. During its ownership, BKM implemented a series of capital improvements including modernizing signage, updating the paint scheme and new landscaping…
China Said to Order Banks to Curb New Loans in First Quarter
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Central bank may punish banks which fail to control new loans
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Told to keep increase in new mortgages at fourth-quarter level
China’s central bank has ordered the nation’s lenders to strictly control new loans in the first quarter of the year, people familiar with the matter said, in another move to curb excess leverage in the financial system.
The new guidance from the People’s Bank of China puts a particular emphasis on mortgage lending, the people said, as authorities grapple to contain runaway property prices. And while the PBOC regularly seeks to guide banks’ credit decisions, this time it may also make errant lenders pay more for deposit insurance, one of the people said…
With MoneyGram, China’s Ant Financial Gets an American Base
Posted by: | CommentsJack Ma’s Ant Financial has gotten itself an American colony. The $880 million purchase of the remittances firm MoneyGram in a deal announced on Thursday looks like a counterintuitive bet in a de-globalizing world for the Alibaba founder’s financial services arm. International payments are a tough business. But MoneyGram gives Ant a base with connections to many developing markets.
Ant piggybacked off the growth of Alibaba, whose Alipay unit received commissions for each transaction it processed over the companies’ marketplaces. In turn, its payments and financial services division helped the Chinese firm expand its e-commerce business. Alipay’s immense popularity at home has allowed it to accumulate 450 million customers…
Avison Young Secures 851 KSF Facility Sale
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The GE Lighting Center in Cleveland, Tenn.
Cleveland, Tenn.—Toronto-based Avison Young recently announced that it has been awarded the exclusive sale listing for an 851,370-square-foot General Electric Co. distribution facility in Cleveland, Tenn. Two Chicago-based principals, in conjunction with two other staff members from Nashville, Tenn., and Charlotte, N.C., will represent the owner, an institutional investor.
Swiss Watch Exports Have Worst Year Since Financial Crisis
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Shipments decline 9.9% in 2016 as Hong Kong market shrinks
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Watch federation expects market to stabilize in 2017
Swiss watch exports fell 9.9 percent in 2016, the biggest drop in seven years, as high-end timepieces went unsold on retailers’ shelves in Hong Kong, the industry’s largest market.
Exports declined to 19.4 billion francs ($19.4 billion) in December, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement Thursday. The annual decline is the worst performance since exports fell 22 percent in 2009 in the wake of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the subprime mortgage crisis…
‘Tough Times,’ but U.S. Investor Bets on Latin American Start-Ups
Posted by: | CommentsRIO DE JANEIRO — With a change of administration in the United States ushering in uncertainty, this may be an unusual time for an American investment firm to bet on emerging markets.
Yet San Francisco-based Rise Capital, founded by Nazar Yasin, a former director at Tiger Global Management, sees some of the next big internet companies coming from Latin America, in particular Brazil and Mexico.
After investing in multiple countries in the region in recent years, Rise, for the first time, has backed an internet start-up in Colombia. The firm led a $5.2 million round, which closed this month, in OFI, an online office supplies company in Bogotá, both Mr. Yasin and Peter Ostroske, a co-founder of OFI and its chief executive, said in interviews…
Capri EGM Nabs Build-to-Suit Office for Comcast Center for Excellence
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Comcast Corp.’s headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa.
Charleston, S.C.—Capri EGM recently announced its acquisition of a build-to-suit office facility in Charleston for a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Comcast Corp., a publicly traded, $176.8 billion global mass media and technology company. As largest broadcasting and cable provider in the world based on revenue, Comcast will use the asset as a training center, but the building will also serve the firm’s business and consumer offerings.
New U.S. Home Sales at 10-Month Low as Mortgage Rates Rise
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Months’ supply of houses for sale at highest since Sept. 2015
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Mortgages had become most expensive in more than two years
Purchases of new U.S. homes fell in December to a 10-month low, suggesting the post-election jump in mortgage rates pushed out potential buyers.
Single-family house sales dropped 10.4 percent, the most in almost two years, to a 536,000 annualized pace, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey was for 588,000.
R.B.S. Adds $3.8 Billion to Mortgage Inquiry Provisions as Rivals Settle
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A Royal Bank of Scotland cash machine at a Tesco Bank in Liverpool, England.CreditPaul Ellis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
LONDON — The Royal Bank of Scotland said on Thursday that it would set aside an additional $3.8 billion in its fourth quarter for investigations and litigation in the United States, even as rivals have reached settlements with the American authorities.
The bank, which is 73 percent owned by the British government after a bailout during the financial crisis, is looking to address legacy legal issues as its chief executive, Ross McEwan, aims to turn around the lender’s prospects…
Cerberus Closes Fourth Opportunistic CRE Fund
Posted by: | CommentsThe company will use the $1.8 billion in commitments to pursue distressed or undervalued assets globally, with a focus on the United States and Western Europe.
Ronald Kravit
New York—Cerberus Capital Management has completed its fourth global opportunistic real estate fund, Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners IV LP, by having raised $1.8 billion, the company announced Tuesday.
CIREP IV reportedly will pursue an investment strategy focused on distressed or otherwise undervalued real estate transactions globally, with a focus in the United States and Western Europe.
Rue21 Said to Hire Rothschild as Debt Sinks Into Deep Distress
Posted by: | CommentsRue21 Inc., a teen clothing retailer controlled by Apax Partners, hired Rothschild Inc. to help tame its nearly $1 billion debt-load, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The advisory firm is to look at various options including working with Rue21’s senior lenders to give the chain some breathing room as it tries to turn around its business, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private…
Rue21 Said to Hire Rothschild as Debt Sinks Into Deep Distress
Fewer Growth Surprises May Trigger a Correction in Euro Stocks: Deutsche Bank
Posted by: | CommentsEuropean stocks are at the mercy of a slowdown in positive macro surprises, according to analysts at the German bank.
Brace yourself.
A slowdown in positive economic surprises may set the stage for a pullback in European equities in the coming months, warn analysts at Deutsche Bank AG, citing the close relationship between global stock-market performance and better-than-expected data across major economies since November 2016.
Firming economic data around the globe explains about 71 percent of the worldwide rally in equities, according to an analysis by the German bank. That means the unexpectedly strong economic indicators over the past six months — which have helped European cyclical stocks stage their sharpest rally since 2009 — may be paving the way for a correction…
Sale of Iconic Manhattan High-Rise Exceeds $1B
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60 Wall St. in NYCChina’s Army of Global Homebuyers Is Suddenly Short on Cash
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Property sales from London to California wobble on China curbs
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Stronger capital controls are deterring first-time purchases
China’s escalating crackdown on capital outflows is sending shudders through property markets around the world.
In London, Chinese citizens who clamored to purchase flats at the city’s tallest apartment tower three months ago are now struggling to transfer their down payments. In Silicon Valley, Keller Williams Realty says inquiries from China have slumped since the start of the year. And in Sydney, developers are facing “big problems” as Chinese buyers pull back, according to consultancy firm Basis Point…
Harvard’s New Fund Manager, Copying Yale, Will Farm Out Money
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Largest fund repudiates decades-old approach after poor return
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Half of staff will depart as endowment turns more to outsiders
The new head of Harvard University’s endowment moved quickly to remake the fund in the model of better-performing rivals such as Yale, pledging to cut its 230-person staff in half and shift most of its money to outside managers.
The change marked an extraordinary repudiation of an investment strategy dating to the 1990s. Under that approach, Harvard hired its own managers — offering multi-million-dollar paychecks to the top performers — to oversee its wealth…
Goldman’s $285 Million Package for Gary Cohn Is Questioned
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Gary D. Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, as President Trump met with automobile industry leaders at the White House, on Tuesday. CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
Goldman Sachs has rewarded its departing president, Gary D. Cohn, with expedited access to cash and stock payments valued at nearly $300 million, and in doing so has tacitly encouraged another of its executives to accept an influential role in Washington.
Tony Azar: It Is Going to Be Harder to Find True Value-Add Investments
Posted by: | CommentsReal estate entrepreneur talks about the trends, challenges in the industry and his expectations from 2017.
Tony Azar, Managing Director MACC Properties
Gastonia, N.C.—Counting almost 14 years in the multifamily real estate industry, Tony Azar, managing director of MACC Properties, believes that the road to success begins with thorough research, lots of dedication to the business plus extra attention for the employees. Together with his family, Azar started MACC Properties and Capstone Realty Advisors, two companies that partnered in order to offer multifamily investors and owners a complete line of services. The real estate entrepreneur revealed his market predictions for the next 12 months and how he succeeded in launching and stabilizing the two firms…
Americans Are Flipping Houses Like It’s 2006
Posted by: | CommentsHousing market investors have pushed the share of flips, or properties sold twice in 12 months, to its highest level in a decade.
A potential homebuyer walks through a five-bedroom house for sale in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
A tactic that helped define the height of homebuying madness in the U.S. in the years before the market collapsed is rearing its head again.
Home flippers, who buy homes as a speculative bet on short-term price appreciation, accounted for 6.1 percent of U.S. home sales in 2016, according to Trulia, which defines a flip as a property sold twice in a 12-month period in arm’s-length transactions. That’s the highest share since 2006, when flips accounted for 7.3 percent of sales…
The Dow’s Record Rise Sends a Former Wall Street Stock Broker Back in Time
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This photograph of my graduating class of fellow stockbrokers, taken on Dec. 18, 1981, at the World Trade Center headquarters of Dean Witter Reynolds, shows that “customer’s man” was still a fairly accurate term even when I entered the industry. (I am seated on the floor in the front row, fifth from left.)…
Dow 20,000 is just a number, it’s true. But for me, a 35-year veteran of the financial world, the Dow Jones industrial average’s recent climb to a new five-digit peak sent me back in time.
I returned to January 4, 1982, the day I began my short but illuminating career as a Wall Street stockbroker.
Lifescapes Completes Landscape Design of Robinsons Galleria
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Robinsons Galleria interior
Cebu, Philippines—Lifescapes International has announced the landscape design completion of Robinsons Galleria, a multi-million dollar, six-story, 4,095,506-square-foot shopping destination, located along General Maxilom Avenue in Cebu City, Philippines. The project was developed by Robinsons Land Corp. and Asya Design served as the architect.
The design features unique elements such as a bubble wall with LED lighting, a 25-foot flower guitar, a lush year-round garden on each level of the center, multi-purpose screens and cascading water features…
BlackRock’s $1 Trillion JPMorgan Move Shows Cost Strategy
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JPMorgan will become a custodian for some BlackRock assets
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State Street loses business; shares decline about 4%
BlackRock Inc. yanked custody services from State Street Corp. on more than $1 trillion in client assets as the asset manager seeks to cut costs by putting pressure on vendors.
The move of assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. is part of BlackRock’s strategy to exact lower fees, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank said the deal was one of the largest shifts of custody assets ever…
BlackRock’s $1 Trillion JPMorgan Move Shows Cost Strategy
HFF Arranges Joint Venture Equity for Office Tower in San Antonio
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San Antonio—HFF announced that it has arranged a joint venture equity investment for the development of Frost Tower, a 460,000-square-foot, Class AA office tower to be built in downtown San Antonio.
HFF worked exclusively on behalf of the developers—San Antonio-based Weston Urban and Dallas-based KDC. TRT Holdings Inc. of Dallas provided joint venture equity for the project. The HFF team representing the developers was led by Director Campbell Roche, Executive Managing Director Mark Gibsen, Senior Managing Director Trey Morsbach and Managing Director John Taylor…
Transformative Mixed-Use Developments Revive Newark
Posted by: | CommentsNewark, N.J.—An historic department store in downtown Newark, N.J., that had fallen into disrepair has been transformed into an arts and cultural center, new retail and housing through a $174 million project financed by a partnership of public, profit and private groups…
Thai Digital-Payment System May Save Banks $2 Billion
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PromptPay digital payment service due in Thailand this quarter
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Banks’ industry body says savings will offset hit to revenues
Thailand is due to roll out a national digital-payment system that levies much smaller transaction fees than the nation’s banks. Yet lenders expect the network to help rather than hinder them financially.
Commercial banks could save some 77 billion baht ($2.18 billion) in the next 10 years as the so-called PromptPay service curbs the use of cash, according to Thai Bankers’ Association Chairman Predee Daochai. That will exceed the revenue loss from money transfers and payments by 20 billion baht, he said…
Meridian Secures $40M Financing for Hartford Office Asset
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Metro Center, Hartford, Conn.
Hartford, Conn.—Meridian Capital Group recently announced that it has arranged a $40 million bridge financing on behalf of Shelbourne Global Solutions for the acquisition of Metro Center, a 293,600-square-foot office building located in downtown Hartford.
The two-year loan featuring a floating rate of 5.8 percent over the 30-day LIBOR rate and interest-only payments was negotiated by Shaya Ackerman, senior managing director, and Shaya Sonnenschein, senior vice president of Meridian’s New York City headquarters through Thorofare Capital…
Brooklyn Project Lands $250M in Financing
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Dock 72
New York City—A joint venture between Boston Properties Inc. and Rudin Development has received a $250 million construction loan for Dock 72, a 16-story, 675,000 square-foot creative office development located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The financing was led by J.P. Morgan, M&T Bank and U.S. Bank.
Hong Kong Stock-Hedging Costs Tumble Before Chinese New Year
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HSI’s one-month implied volatility is low versus peers
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Cost of puts versus calls is the cheapest among Asian markets
For investors wanting to hedge Hong Kong shares, the market offers the cheapest options among major regional peers.
Ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, contracts protecting against swings in the Hang Seng Index in the coming month have tumbled to their lowest prices in more than a year versus Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index, Korea’s Kospi 200 Index and India’s NSE Nifty 50 Index. Relative to the Nikkei-225 Stock Average, they’re near their cheapest since September…
HFF Closes $63M Financing for Boston Office Buildings
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333 Summer St. in Boston
Boston—HFF recently announced it has closed $63 million in financing on behalf of ASB Real Estate Investments for 320 and 333 Summer St. in Boston, two office buildings totaling roughly 217,000 square feet.
HFF secured the financing through The Hartford Financial Services Group, placing a 10-year, 3.65 percent, fixed-rate loan. The two assets are owned by the $6.3 billion Allegiance Fund, an open-end core investment vehicle, which is a joint venture of ASB and Lincoln Property Co. HFF Senior Managing Director Frederic Wittmann and Director Brett Paulsrud led the team representing the borrower…
Now Could Be a Good Time to Buy Singapore Property Stocks
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Speculation is building that government might review measures
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Home prices likely to reach bottom this year, OCBC’s Lee says
Yes, you heard it right — Singapore’s home prices are set to make a comeback after a three-year losing streak. And analysts think property developer stocks are the best way to play that rebound.
Hoping to Strike Gold Again, Silver Lake Leads Investment in Koubei
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Joseph Tsai, the chairman of Koubei and vice chairman Alibaba, at the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 for Alibaba’s initial public offering. CreditBrendan Mcdermid/Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO — The Alibaba Group provided the investment firm Silver Lake with a multibillion-dollar payday when the Chinese e-commerce giant went public two years ago.
Now, Silver Lake is betting that an investment in an Alibaba affiliate could help it strike gold once more.
The firm is leading a group in a $1.1 billion investment in Koubei, a business meant to help bring local services — from restaurants to local stores — even closer into Alibaba’s orbit. Earlier reports on the fund-raising effort said that any deal would value Koubei at about $8 billion…
Code-Stealing Conviction Is Reinstated for Former Golden Sachs Trader
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Sergey Aleynikov, center, leaving New York State Supreme Court in April 2015.CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times
It is time to write yet another chapter in the nearly eight-year legal journey of Sergey Aleynikov, the former Goldman Sachs programmer whose arrest in summer 2009 helped put high-frequency trading on the map.
An appeals court in New York on Tuesday reinstated Mr. Aleynikov’s conviction in 2015 on a single charge of stealing confidential computer code for Goldman’s high-speed trading business just before leaving to take a job with a hedge fund…
Code-Stealing Conviction Is Reinstated for Former Golden Sachs Trader
Takata Surges After Reiterating It Wants to Avoid Bankruptcy
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Reports of court-led rehabilitation ‘regrettable,’ it says
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New Mexico sues Takata, 15 automakers for trade violations
Takata Corp. surged in Tokyo trading after the air-bag maker reiterated it wants to avoid a court-led bankruptcy that could disrupt the supply of parts needed to complete the biggest safety recall in automotive history.
The Tokyo-based manufacturer, whose faulty products are linked to at least 17 deaths worldwide and the subject of recalls that may exceed 100 million units, climbed as much 18 percent and traded at 519 yen as of 10:01 a.m. The company said reports that assume it was moving toward a court-led rehabilitation were “regrettable” and causing confusion. The company is deciding on a direction that takes into account all stakeholders and discussions are ongoing, it said in a statement Tuesday…