Archive for Uncategorized
Deutsche Bank Is First Bank Busted for Breaking the Volcker Rule
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Fed levies $157 million in fines for lax oversight of traders
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In two probes, regulator faults oversight of trading and chats
Deutsche Bank AG was hit with the Federal Reserve’s first major fine for failing to ensure traders abide by the Volcker Rule’s ban on risky market bets — and will pay even more for letting currency desks chat online with competitors, allegedly revealing positions.
The simultaneous sanctions, totaling almost $157 million, fault lax oversight of traders that persisted into last year. The company — which raised $8.5 billion from investors this month to recapitalize — admitted to the Fed in March 2016 that it still lacked adequate systems for keeping tabs on dealings that might run afoul of the Volcker ban…
Brooklyn Lots, Warehouse Sell Well Above Asking Price
Posted by: | CommentsPrezant Auto Glass has sold two vacant lots and a warehouse totaling 12,725 square feet at 814-826 Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, N.Y., to a local private developer for $12 million.
Marcus & Millichap represented both parties in the transaction.
“The property is a strategically located corner development opportunity. Being one of the few sizable footprints yet to be developed in this submarket, it offers developers unique economies of scale,” Jakub Nowak an associate broker at Marcus & Millichap’s Brooklyn office, told Commercial Property Executive. “The sale’s timing was driven by the seller’s motivation to make a move, not our recommendation on market timing.”
Fixing the Financial Crisis Was the Easy Part: Five Things We Learned This Week
Posted by: | CommentsThe world’s central banks averted disaster. But could what comes next be worse?
How Will Markets React When Central Banks Tap the Breaks?
It made sense during the financial crisis to throw money at the problem. Since then, balance sheets of the central banks in Europe, China and the U.S. have ballooned to $13 trillion, at least double their levels in 2008—largely through buying government bonds, and even debt and shares in companies, such as a French yogurt-maker and Japan’s top soy-sauce brewer. Now markets and analysts are seriously pondering what will happen if and when policymakers reverse course. What they don’t want is another “taper tantrum,” when yields quickly rose in 2013 after then-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked about buying fewer bonds. Markets are going to have to find a way to absorb the banks’ moves. “You know what they say about mountaineering right? The descent is always more dangerous than the ascent,” said Stephen Jen, London-based chief executive of hedge fund Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd…
The Real World of Oil Has a Warning for Financial Markets
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OPEC supply management yet to work as producer group intended
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Brent is benchmark for more than half the world’s crude oil
The Brent physical oil market is flashing signs of weakness again as dwindling Asian purchases, an influx of American crude to Europe, and supplies flowing out of storage all combine to recreate a glut in the North Sea.
The weakness comes at a time when speculators have started rebuilding bullish positions after a sell-off last month, betting the market will tighten in the second quarter. Yet, Brent physical oil traders say the opposite is happening so far, according to interviews with executives at several trading houses, who asked not to be identified discussing internal views…
UK Lands Own CREW Network Affiliate Group
Posted by: | CommentsNoting that commercial real estate is a global business, several leaders of the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network said the launch of CREW UK this month is expected to be the first of several affiliate groups around the world…
Saudi Arabia May Offer Cheap Loans to Spur Job-Rich Industries
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Plan likely to be finalized by June, finance minister says
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Saudis set to sell more bonds, rather than tap FX reserves
Saudi Arabia may offer “almost interest-free” loans to companies in labor-intensive industries, as part of a plan to stimulate an economy squeezed by low oil prices and spending cuts, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said.
Officials are in talks with private companies about other kinds of government support too, Al-Jadaan said in an interview on Thursday in Washington, where he’s attending International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. The proposal will likely be ready by the end of the second quarter, he said…
Greenwich Homes Get Cheaper and Finally Start Selling Again
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Buyers in first quarter got biggest discounts in four years
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Luxury deals help push median price up 12% to $1.87 million
The slumbering housing market in Greenwich, the Connecticut town favored by Wall Street’s financial elite, jolted awake in the first quarter as buyers emboldened by the rising stock market committed to purchases — as long as they didn’t have to pay full price.
Home sales in Greenwich jumped 29 percent from a year earlier to 126 deals, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Buyers took longer to deliberate before signing contracts, but sellers coaxed them off the fence by offering discounts averaging 7.9 percent off the last asking price, the most in four years…
Mega Project Makes History in Nashville
Posted by: | CommentsIn the form of preparatory demolition, construction has begun on the largest mixed-use development to date in downtown Nashville, the developers of the $430 million Fifth + Broadway project announced Tuesday.
When complete, Fifth + Broadway will comprise 235,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, including the new National Museum for African American Music; 385,000 square feet of Class A office space; more than 350 residential units and more than 2,000 parking spaces. The developers are OliverMcMillan, of San Diego, and Nashville’s own Spectrum | Emery…
Cracks Appear in Toronto’s Housing Market as Home Capital Drops
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Ontario regulators to apply 15% levy on non-Canadian buyers
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Prices will fall, ‘people are going to get hurt,’ Watsa says
Canadians fretted for years that home prices in the country’s largest city are rising at an unsustainable rate. Now they’re doing something about it.
Ontario, the country’s most populous province, announced on Thursday a set of measures aimed at cooling the Toronto housing market, including a tax on the foreign buyers who’ve been blamed for speculation. The province’s securities regulator on Wednesday also accused an alternative mortgage lender, Home Capital Group Inc., of making misleading disclosures, sending its shares tumbling…
Canada’s Subprime Lender Plummets After Being Charged With Misleading Investors
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Mortgage provider down as much as 14%, most since July 2015
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Stock downgraded and share-price forecasts cut by analysts
Home Capital Group Inc., the troubled Canadian alternative-mortgage lender targeted by short-sellers, fell the most in almost two years after a financial regulator alleged that executives misled investors and broke securities laws.
Shares of the Toronto-based company dropped as much as 14 percent Thursday, the most since July 2015. The stock fell after the Ontario Securities Commission alleged Wednesday night that the company’s former officials failed to satisfy disclosure requirements, made “materially misleading statements” and failed to comply with other securities rules…
Justices Appear Reluctant to Close Debt Collection Loophole
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Justice Neil M. Gorsuch heard his fifth Supreme Court argument on Tuesday, the first in which he asked no questions. CreditGabriella Demczuk for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court argument on Tuesday explored a gap in a federal debt collection law, one that consumer groups say allows some debt collectors to engage in abusive tactics. But the justices did not seem inclined to fill the gap.
When Congress enacted the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in 1977, it imposed strict regulations on firms that collected other companies’ debts. But it did not address the activities of businesses like banks, credit card companies and car dealerships that collect their own debts…
BlackRock Earnings Rise on Tide of E.T.F.’s and Index Funds
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BlackRock’s chief executive, Laurence D. Fink, has decided to bet the firm’s future on systematic styles of investing that deploy machine-driven formulas. CreditGian Ehrenzeller/European Pressphoto Agency
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, continued to reap the benefits of the passive investing revolution in the first quarter of this year as investors stuck to ditching actively managed mutual funds for cheaper exchange-traded funds that track a variety of indexes.
The company said on Wednesday that it earned $862 million, or $5.23 a share, in the first quarter, up 31 percent from the same quarter a year earlier…
Chinese Investment Scandal Highlights ‘Shadow Banking’ Risks
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A China Minsheng branch in Beijing. Poorly regulated financial products are often missold to Chinese investors hungry for returns that handily beat what banks offer for deposits. CreditJason Lee/Reuters
BEIJING — When Lisa Wang sank her retirement money — all $730,000 of it — into a single investment, her fund manager repeatedly said the product was risk free.
It wasn’t.
On Wednesday, Ms. Wang, 61, joined about a dozen other customers in the lobby of a Beijing branch of the bank China Minsheng, pressing employees for details and demanding their money back, after the Chinese news media reported that more than $400 million of investors’ money had disappeared…
Omni to Develop 1,050-Key Hotel on Boston’s Waterfront
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Omni Resorts and Hotels has been chosen by the Massachusetts Port Authority Board of Directors to develop and build a 1,050-plus room hotel on Summer Street in South Boston’s Waterfront District.
China’s $8.5 Trillion Shadow Bank Industry Is Back in Full Swing
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Curbs prompting borrowers to seek alternative funding sources
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Government treading ‘fine line’ on financing: Everbright
China’s shadow banking is back in full swing, an unintended side effect of the government’s campaign against financial leverage, which has curbed traditional lending and squeezed bond financing.
Data from the central bank Friday showed that off-balance sheet lending surged 754 billion yuan ($109 billion) in March, taking the first quarter’s total increase to a record 2.05 trillion yuan. Efforts by the People’s Bank of China to curb fresh lending may have prompted borrowers, especially real estate developers, to resort to alternative forms of financing, said Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities Co…
How Morgan Stanley Bested Goldman Sachs
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James P. Gorman’s strategy for Morgan Stanley is paying off. Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income, currency and commodities traders nearly doubled their top line from what was a tough period for the industry last year.CreditKarsten Moran for The New York Times
James P. Gorman is rubbing Goldman Sachs’s nose in it.
Morgan Stanley’s chief executive didn’t just hit his return goal with a $1.8 billion first-quarter earnings showing. His fixed-income, currency and commodities traders virtually doubled their top line from what was a tough period for the industry last year, confirming that their chief rival made a mess of the first three months of the year…
Carnegie Hall Tower Lands $325M Refi
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TF Cornerstone, the owner and developer of Carnegie Hall Tower, a trophy office building in Manhattan’s Plaza District, reached out to a familiar name for help in securing a $325 million loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to refinance the 60-story skyscraper—The Singer & Bassuk Organization.
Morgan Stanley Bond Traders Top Goldman for First Time Since 2011
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Highest return on equity in two years reaches Gorman’s target
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Goldman Sachs stuck with business as Morgan Stanley retreated
A year ago, Morgan Stanley had just taken an ax to its bond-trading business, scaling back as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. vowed to stay the course. Now, for the first time since 2011, Morgan Stanley topped its bigger rival in one of Wall Street’s fiercest arenas.
First-quarter revenue from trading bonds, currencies and commodities almost doubled at Morgan Stanley to $1.71 billion, the firm said Wednesday in a statement, edging out Goldman Sachs’s $1.69 billion. Morgan Stanley last beat Goldman in that business in the second quarter of 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show…
Ryan Cos. Appoints Casey Hankinson as SVP
Posted by: | CommentsRyan Cos. recently announced the appointment of Casey Hankinson as senior vice president—national built-to-suit. In his new role, Hankinson will leverage the more than 40 million square feet of projects the company has developed in the past 10 years…
Paris Home Price Surge Means Less Value for Brexit-Hit Bankers
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French capital property prices rise 9% in 12 months: Databiens
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London home price premium over Paris has almost halved to 71%
Bankers swapping London for Paris after the Brexit vote are moving from a slumping luxury-homes market to a red-hot one.
A weakening pound has “meant differences in prices between Paris and London have fluctuated significantly over the last 12 months,” Databiens, the French unit of property researcher LonRes, said. “Since the start of 2016, prices in Paris have begun to rise, whereas in central London we saw values fall.”…
Balyasny’s Tip to Hedge Funds at Crossroads: Imitate Bezos
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Amazon shows benefit of building ‘scalable platform,’ he says
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Peers must focus on niche strategies or diversify to survive
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos
Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg
Hedge funds that want to scale up and diversify as their fees come under pressure and investors flee the $3 trillion industry should follow Amazon.com Inc.’s growth strategy, according to Balyasny Asset Management.
Dmitry Balyasny, who leads the investment firm, says the mail-order giant has crushed the competition by relentlessly investing in its business, expanding into new areas, hiring the best talent and exploiting its pricing power…
San Diego Retail Condo Trades for Record Price
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Colliers International arranged the sale of a 3,517-square-foot retail condominium in La Jolla, Calif., for $4.7 million. The Cove Equity Group LLC purchased the two-unit property with no outside representation for $1,322/square foot, a record price for shell retail space. Bill Shrader, David Maxwell, Joe Brady and Luke Holler of Colliers International’s Urban Property Group represented the seller, Hammer Ventures on behalf of RREF II-HV Prospect Property Owner LLC.
‘Recession-Proof’ Student Housing Attracts Singapore Investors
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Deals continue apace after record $16.2 billion struck in ’16
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Student housing reaps better returns than residential, offices
GIC Pte and Mapletree Investments Pte are going back to school.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and the city-state-based real estate investor helped fuel a record $16.2 billion of student-housing acquisitions last year, and a further $3.3 billion of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2017, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc. Student accommodation offers better returns than offices and residential housing, making it an attractive asset for pension and sovereign wealth funds looking for stable income and higher yields in a low-return world…
Robo-Adviser Wants to Lend You Money, Not Just Manage It
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Wealthfront becomes first of its kind to enter lending arena
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Clients will be able to borrow cash against their portfolios
Now the robots are coming after more than your investment adviser.
Wealthfront Inc. said in a blog post Wednesday that it will offer loans, calling the move a first among robo-advisers, which are known for wealth management using automated investing platforms. Through a partnership with RBC Capital Markets LLC, clients with at least $100,000 can take out loans of as much as 30 percent of their account value, using their portfolios as collateral.
What Makes a Financing Firm Competitive?
Posted by: | CommentsMidCap Financial Co-Founder Kevin McMeen discusses what to expect for CRE lending in 2017, and how his firm has succeeded in growing its presence in the market despite launching during the Great Recession.
Market analysts were in a hurry to predict the changes we will see shaping the real estate industry in 2017, but the key players in the business are not jumping to conclusions. Kevin McMeen, co-founder of MidCap Financial & president of the firm’s Commercial Real Estate Lending Group, discussed why the lending environment is unlikely to constrict in 2017, and the shifts we could expect to see in investors’ strategies. McMeen also revealed to Commercial Property Executive how he has successfully grown the company and what it takes to stay competitive in today’s lending environment…
Nobu Ignores Toronto Housing Bubble Drama With New Condo Project
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De Niro-backed hotel speaks to Toronto’s ‘world class’ status
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Policymakers mull new measures to tame soaring Toronto prices
Nobu isn’t worried about a Toronto housing bubble.
The company best known for high-end sushi and celebrity cache is poised to enter the frothy residential real-estate business in Canada’s largest city just as a growing chorus of economists warn that soaring home prices aren’t sustainable and a crash looms. Policy makers are expected to announce new measures Thursday to cool the market, including a tax on non-resident speculators.
The Nightmare Scenario for Florida’s Coastal Homeowners
Posted by: | CommentsDemand and financing could collapse before the sea consumes a single house.
On a predictably gorgeous South Florida afternoon, Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason sat in his office overlooking the white-linen restaurants of this affluent seaside community and wondered when climate change would bring it all to an end. He figured it would involve a boat.
When Cason first started worrying about sea-level rise, he asked his staff to count not just how much coastline the city had (47 miles) or value of the property along that coast ($3.5 billion). He also told them to find out how many boats dock inland from the bridges that span the city’s canals (302). What matters, he guessed, will be the first time a mast fails to clear the bottom of one of those bridges because the water level had risen too far…
For Goldman, the Fintech Revolution Can’t Come Soon Enough
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Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter results on Tuesday that disappointed investors.CreditRichard Drew/Associated Press
Goldman Sachs’s internal technology revolution cannot come soon enough.
The Wall Street firm’s young online retail-banking unit is growing and could, once big enough, crank out far higher returns than the investment bank. Goldman could do with some of that extra juice.
At 11.4 percent, Goldman’s annualized return on equity for the quarter places it in the upper echelons of the industry, along with the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The trouble is, the return depended upon a low tax rate, which followed from a new accounting rule relating to the settlement of share awards. Without that benefit, Goldman’s return for the quarter would have been just 8.9 percent – below the rule-of-thumb 10 percent needed to cover the cost of capital…
DeVos Halts Obama-Era Plan to Revamp Student Loan Management
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Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, is responsible for administering $1.3 trillion in federal student loans.CreditAndrew Harnik/Associated Press
With the stroke of a pen this week, Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s new education secretary, thrust the future of the government’s system for managing federal student loans into confusion.
It was a high-stakes move: Her department administers $1.3 trillion in loans on behalf of nearly 43 million student borrowers.
At issue is which companies will handle the bulk of those loans in the future, and how they will do it. Under the Obama administration, the Education Department was on the verge of selecting a single vendor to build a new system for servicing its student loans, in what was expected to be one of the largest federal contracts outside of the military…
Harbert Reaches $40 Million Tax Settlement With New York
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Philip A. Falcone in 2015. Some of the backers of his former hedge fund, Harbinger Capital Partners, were accused of not paying state taxes for some of the most profitable years that he was managing Harbinger.CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times
The money manager Philip A. Falcone, who made billions of dollars betting on the collapse of the housing market a decade ago and later lost at least a billion dollars investing in wireless telecommunications, is no stranger to run-ins with regulators.
Home Prices in ‘Drum-Tight’ Toronto Surge by Most on Record
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Report comes hours before officials meet to discuss next steps
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Real-estate values in Canada’s biggest city jumped 29% on year
Toronto’s home prices capped a record quarter of gains in March amid concern the market is in a bubble.
Prices in the nation’s biggest city increased 6.2 percent last month from February, according to a benchmark price index released Tuesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association. The gain is the biggest in records dating from 2000. Actual price gains averaged almost 5 percent in the quarter, the largest three-month increase in records dating from 1988…
Santa Clarita Shopping Center Trades for $70M
Posted by: | CommentsThe 153,686-square-foot center, which is 95 percent occupied, traded in an off-market transaction brokered by Colliers International.
Galois Group purchased Gateway Village Shopping Center, a neighborhood center in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County’s third-largest municipality, for $69.5 million in an off-market transaction. Colliers International Executive Vice President Michelle Schierberl and Senior Vice President Donald Ellis brokered the sale of the 153,686-square-foot center.
Canada Puts Housing Speculators on Notice as Toronto Prices Soar
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Mayor says city looking at vacant-home tax to bolster supply
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Officials agree not to take actions that would boost demand
Canadian officials across all three levels of government vowed to be vigilant in monitoring the Toronto region’s rapidly accelerating housing market, including possibly taking formal steps aimed at curbing speculative activity.
Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Toronto Mayor John Tory met Tuesday to discuss the thorny question of how to cool the city’s residential real estate market, though they stopped short of providing details on specific measures. Possible steps include taxing homes left empty for speculative purposes, Tory said…
Crown Realty Dives into Hot Toronto Market
Posted by: | CommentsThe firm acquired a 252,000-square-foot office building on behalf of its third fund, Crown Realty III LP, and other co-investors.
Crown Realty Partners has expanded its presence in Canada with an office building acquisition in one of Toronto’s hottest markets. The real estate investment and management firm paid north of C$100 million (roughly $75.3 million) for the nine-story property located at 111 Peter St. in the dynamic Downtown West neighborhood and close to the city’s financial core.
Compton Industrial Space Completely Leased
Posted by: | CommentsUPS took more than 500,000 square feet of space at the LEED Gold-certified Brickyard South Bay in September. Best Buy is now taking up the rest with the signing of a 10-year contract.
Best Buy Co. has signed a 10-year lease for 479,310 square feet at Brickyard South Bay in Compton, Calif., a building being developed by Clarion Partners LLC and Trammell Crow Co., and leased by CBRE.
United Parcel Service signed a 10-year, 521,816-square-foot lease last September. Both transactions rank among the top industrial leases ever signed in Los Angeles County based on total lease consideration…
London House-Price Growth at Five-Year Low as Luxury Sector Slumps
Posted by: | CommentsKensington and Chelsea led declines among the capital’s most expensive areas.
London home values grew at their slowest annual rate in almost five years in February as values in the capital’s most expensive boroughs including Camden and Kensington and Chelsea fell, according to Acadata and LSL Property Services Plc.
Prices across the city rose just 0.1 percent on the month to an average 606,780 pounds ($760,000), the groups said in a report on Tuesday. That left the annual gain at 1.5 percent, the weakest reading since April 2012…
London House-Price Growth at Five-Year Low as Luxury Sector Slumps
Palm Beach Mixed-Use Asset Sells for $20M
Posted by: | CommentsHFF marketed the 18,712-square-foot retail and office building on behalf of the seller, Tricony Management. The property is located within the five-building Via BiCE complex.
HFF closed the $19.5 million sale of an 18,712-square-foot retail and office building located at 313 1/2 Worth Ave. in Palm Beach, Fla. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Tricony Management.
The property is part of Via BiCE, which comprises five buildings on .57 acres and is anchored by BiCE Palm Beach Ristorante. The complex is 89.4 percent leased to a variety of retail and office tenants including Acento Jewelry, David Chase, Haberdashery, DJT Fine Art, Eye of the Needle, Christie’s Real Estate, Washington Growth Strategies, Cashmere Beach and Cruciani. Construction dates back to the 1940s, with the addition of the fifth building in 2000…
Regency Centers Plugs Plans for Chicago Project
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Regency Centers Corp.’s construction frenzy continues with the company’s official announcement of Mellody Farm, a 270,000-square-foot grocery-anchored retail project 30 miles outside Downtown Chicago in Vernon Hills, Ill. The ground-up shopping center will be part of a $200 million mixed-use development.
At Kushners’ Manhattan Tower, Debt Payments and Losses Increase
Posted by: | CommentsLosses widened at the Manhattan office tower co-owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, as debt payments increased in 2016, according to documents filed by the managers of the loans.
At 666 Fifth Ave., losses totaled $14.5 million after accounting for loan payments, from about $10 million in 2015, figures filed by LNR Partners show. Net operating income for the period grew 2.7 percent from the prior year to $41.3 million, while debt payments rose 11 percent to $55.8 million. Occupancy at the tower jumped to 80 percent at the end of 2016, a gain from 70 percent in September, the documents show.
NGKF Closes Sale of LA-Area Office Campus
Posted by: | CommentsThe four buildings comprise a total of 394,524 square feet of Class A space and are 95 percent occupied.
NGKF Capital Markets closed the sale of Los Angeles Corporate Center, a four-building office campus located at 900, 1000, 1200 and 1255 Corporate Center Drive in Monterey Park, Calif., to Omninet Capital.
Sean Fulp, Kevin Shannon, Ken White and Brunson Howard of NGKF Capital Markets represented the seller, Equity Office Properties…
NGKF Closes Sale of LA-Area Office Campus
Housing Starts in U.S. Fell in March to a Four-Month Low
Posted by: | CommentsNew-home construction in the U.S. cooled in March to a four-month low as starts of single-family properties settled back from the strongest pace in almost a decade, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday.
Key Points
- Residential starts decreased 6.8 percent to a 1.22 million annualized rate from a 1.30 in February
- Forecast was for 1.25 million rate; February’s figure was revised from 1.29 million
- Permits, a proxy for future construction, climbed 3.6 percent to a 1.26 million annualized rate in March…
Housing Starts in U.S. Fell in March to a Four-Month Low
Venezuela Lawmakers Ask Wall Street to Stop Aiding Maduro
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Gold swaps would help government retain power, opposition says
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Venezuela’s gold reserves as tracked by IMF at record low
Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, speaks during a ceremony with Militia members in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 17.
Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg
Venezuela’s opposition is reaching out to Wall Street banks to dissuade them from helping the country monetize its $7.7 billion in gold reserves.
Silver Lake Raises $15 Billion Fund for New Tech Deals
Posted by: | CommentsSAN FRANCISCO — Over the past decade, the investment firm Silver Lake has spearheaded some of the most prominent private equity deals involving technology and media, including the takeovers of Dell Inc. and Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Now the firm is poised to significantly raise its buying power.
Silver Lake plans to announce on Tuesday that it has closed its fifth buyout fund at $15 billion, one of the biggest ever dedicated to technology deals. That exceeds the $12.5 billion fund-raising target that the firm had previously aimed for and brings the firm’s total assets and committed capital to about $39 billion…
Bank Lending Stalls on Doubts About Trump’s Pro-Growth Agenda
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Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, played down worries over loan growth on Thursday, saying, “I wouldn’t overreact to the short-term thing about loan growth.”
CreditMolly Riley/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Many business owners and corporate executives have expressed unbridled optimism that President Trump can fuel economic growth and increase their profits.
Their borrowing habits, however, may tell a different story.
Some of the nation’s top bankers said on Thursday that businesses were feeling less certain that Mr. Trump can pull off his ambitious agenda to deregulate and cut taxes…
BMO Bundles Uninsured Mortgages in a Canadian Bond First
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Toronto-based bank is securitizing C$1.96 billion of loans
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Deal comes as Canadian government tries to tame housing market
Bank of Montreal is bundling nearly C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) of prime Canadian mortgages into securities, in a first-of-its-kind deal as the government looks to reduce support for the fast-growing housing sector.
The bonds are backed by prime residential mortgages that are not insured by the government. Canadian banks have historically packaged federally guaranteed loans into bonds, but last year the nation tightened access to taxpayer-backed mortgage backing, in an effort to help tamp down rapid home price growth in areas like Toronto and Vancouver. The mortgage-backed securities offering is the first from a major Canadian bank to bundle uninsured prime mortgages…
Supreme Court Ruling Draws a Vague Line in Bankruptcy Cases
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In an opinion written by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the United States Supreme Court ruled last month that the order of payment in a bankruptcy cannot be evaded when a Chapter 11 case is dismissed.
CreditManuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press
A few weeks back, the Supreme Court decided Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corporation. I had previously noted that the case had the potential to greatly disrupt modern Chapter 11 practice.
Bankruptcy lawyers breathed a sigh of relief when Justice Stephen G. Breyer issued a relatively narrow opinion. But after a few weeks of reflection, I wonder if he didn’t lay the groundwork for years of future litigation…
China Has World’s Hottest Property Stocks
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Country Garden, Sunac, Evergrande are top performers this year
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Developers boost sales despite local government measures
The world’s hottest property stocks are to be found in China as tougher measures to cool real estate prices fail to deter investors.
Chinese companies account for nine of the 10 best performers this year on the Bloomberg World Real Estate Index. Among members of the MSCI China Index, Country Garden Holdings Co., Sunac China Holdings Ltd. and China Evergrande Group are the standout winners with gains of more than 70 percent, five times the pace of the benchmark measure…
Arconic C.E.O. Ousted After Sending Unauthorized Letter to Hedge Fund
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Klaus Kleinfeld in 2012. Mr. Kleinfeld, who stepped down as chief executive of Arconic on Monday, had drawn the ire of the hedge fund Elliott Management for failing to lift the company’s stock price.CreditBrendan Smialowski/Getty Images
As chief executive of Alcoa, Klaus Kleinfeld oversaw an effort to split the company in two. Last year, he won board approval to spin off what was supposed to be a fast-growing subsidiary, Arconic, and became the new company’s C.E.O.
Yet just months later, Mr. Kleinfeld is out at Arconic, after mounting pressure from the big hedge fund Elliott Management and a letter he sent in response without his board’s approval…
Singapore Home Sales Surge to Highest in Almost Four Years
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Government eased some property market curbs last month
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Prices fell for a record 14th quarter, declining 0.5%
Visitors at the 50th floor skybridge of an apartment block take in a panoramic view of Singapore.
Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Singapore home sales surged to the highest monthly total for nearly four years in March, a month in which the government rolled back some property curbs following a three-year slide in prices.
Berkshire Targets Wealthy Chinese Buyers for U.S. Homes
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Real estate brokerage signs marketing agreement with Juwai.com
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Deal is a ‘huge differentiator’ for business, Donovan says
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s real estate brokerage, acquired as an afterthought when billionaire Chairman Warren Buffett bought an energy business, is expanding its global reach with a push to attract wealthy Chinese citizens to purchase homes in the U.S.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices announced an agreement to advertise its U.S. homes on Juwai.com, which attracts about 2 million visitors a month. The portal hosts sites on both sides of China’s “great firewall,” meaning consumers can access the information inside the nation from more than 400 cities and also from more than 160 other countries, according to a statement Monday…
Starwood Capital to Acquire Austin’s Forestar Group
Posted by: | CommentsThe Forestar board unanimously approved the $605 million merger, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. The firm has been reducing its debt and exiting non-core assets for the last 18 months.
Forestar Group Inc. has entered into a merger agreement with affiliates of Starwood Capital Group under which Starwood will acquire Forestar for $14.25 per share in cash, or about $605 million, Forestar announced late last week.
The transaction price reportedly represents an 8.2 percent premium to the 90-day volume weighted average price of Forestar’s common stock…
Starwood Capital to Acquire Austin’s Forestar Group
Homebuilder Sentiment in U.S. Cools From Almost 12-Year High
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A contractor works on the basement of a home under construction in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
Confidence among U.S. home builders cooled in April after jumping a month earlier to the highest level since mid-2005, according to data Monday from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo…
Homebuilder Sentiment in U.S. Cools From Almost 12-Year High
Robots May Help Build Your Next Home and Fill the Labor Gap
Posted by: | CommentsThe future of U.S. homebuilding depends on more people like Cyndicy Yarborough, a 26-year-old former Wal-Mart clerk with no background in construction.
At Blueprint Robotics in Baltimore, she works in a factory that builds houses like cars, on an assembly line, using robots that fire thousands of nails into studs each day and never miss. Yarborough operates a machine that lifts floors and walls and packs them onto a flatbed truck, the final step before delivery to a development site where they’ll be pieced together…
Robots May Help Build Your Next Home and Fill the Labor Gap
Hyatt Hits the Beach in Virginia
Posted by: | CommentsLocated at 2705 Atlantic Ave., the 19-story, 156-key hotel is the first Hyatt-branded hotel in Virginia Beach. The property lies in close proximity to the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach and Norfolk military installations, and Virginia Beach Town Center.
Crestline Hotels & Resorts debuted Hyatt House Virginia Beach/Oceanfront, the first Hyatt-branded hotel in Virginia Beach.
Located at 2705 Atlantic Ave. in Virginia Beach, Va., the 19-story, 156-key hotel offers free Wi-Fi; The Commons, a lounge and welcoming space for guests; complimentary breakfast; H Market and H Bar; a restaurant; indoor swimming pool; fitness center; gathering rooms with 2,000 square feet of meeting space; business center; on-site laundry facilities, pet accommodations and private balconies in all suites…
London House-Price Growth at Five-Year Low as Luxury End Slumps
Posted by: | CommentsKensington and Chelsea led declines among the capital’s most expensive areas.
London home values grew at their slowest annual rate in almost five years in February as values in the capital’s most expensive boroughs including Camden and Kensington and Chelsea fell, according to Acadata and LSL Property Services Plc.
Prices across the city rose just 0.1 percent on the month to an average 606,780 pounds ($760,000), the groups said in a report on Tuesday. That left the annual gain at 1.5 percent, the weakest reading since April 2012…
London House-Price Growth at Five-Year Low as Luxury End Slumps
SEC Probes Hedge Fund That Promises Investors No Losses
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Statim Holdings’ Arjun fund pledges clients won’t lose money
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Lawyer for Statim head Joseph Meyer said he did nothing wrong
Statim Holdings Inc., an Atlanta-based firm that has guaranteed investors in its main hedge fund won’t lose money, is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter.
The SEC inquiry into Statim comes as Georgia regulators examine the firm. The state began a probe in 2015 after the company failed to submit to a surprise audit, filings show. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said in July that he had discovered “multiple irregularities” involving Statim and its hedge fund Arjun.
China Home Sales Surged 18% in March Ahead of Stepped-Up Curbs
Posted by: | CommentsChina home sales remained resilient last month, as buyers rushed into the market before a tightening of curbs on home-buying in March.
The value of new homes sold rose 18 percent to 1 trillion yuan ($145 billion) last month from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics. The increase compares with a 23 percent surge in the first two months of the year.
Who doesn’t love a great sequel? The housing market is blistering hot and people are itching to get a taste of the hot porridge served right from an upgraded stainless steel stove. You all know the story of Icarus and the perils of flying too close to the sun. Well there is also a story about getting too deep into the crap shack Kool-Aid pool. This is now a mania. I have a fairly good sense of Southern California living in multiple parts and making it my job to understand various markets by actually visiting open houses in wealthy areas and gentrifying markets as realtors would like to say. Most people like staying in their confined bubbles and really don’t venture out. So once again, we see astronomical prices decoupled from actual value. Today we take a trip into the heart of Los Angeles…
Paul Singer’s Son Might Soon Learn What It Feels Like To Be Argentina
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At times, Paul Singer can be a complicated man. But when it comes to enacting vengeance on those who seek to thwart his strategies, he’s downright monomaniacal. Just ask Argentina. Neither man nor sovereign country can stop a Singer on the warpath.
But what if that man/country is a Singer himself? According to documents shared with the Financial Times, Paul Singer’s own flesh and blood – his son and subordinate Gordon Singer – evidently fumbled the ball in the tense fourth quarter of Elliott Advisors’ ongoing campaign to push paint giant Akzo Nobel into a hostile takeover with rival PPG. His alleged error: inadvertently copying Akzo’s investor relations head on a strategic email…
Savills Studley Secures Office Space for Pillsbury in Miami
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Savills Studley has completed a 10,566-square-foot lease in Brickell World Plaza for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, an international law firm that is expanding into the Miami market. Bob Orban, senior vice president & Miami branch manager, and Tyler Wyant, associate, brokered the deal. Orban and Wyant secured the use of furniture, fixtures and equipment, as well as several periods of rental abatement.