This article published on Friday, February 26th, 2010 is quite possibly one of the worst articles you will ever read discussing the merits of a sale/leaseback transaction. I feel sorry for the brokers quoted in the publication. It feels like the author chopped up their quotes and used them where she thought best rather than [...]
Standard & Poor’s had downgraded 15 classes of bonds backed by a $425 million loan secured against the Four Seasons Hotel in New York and 3 other luxury resort hotels. The action was triggered by a drop in cash flow which was 46% below S&P expectations. Surely, the expected cash flow figure had already been [...]
Blockbuster has secured $675 million in new debt (due in 2014) which will be used to pay off old debt. The loan is nice and cheap at an 11.75% interest rate and represents 94% of par value. Blockbuster is continuing its aggressive cost-cutting strategy in hopes that people will stop using the internet and go [...]
Lately I have been receiving a high volume of calls from appraisers. Appraiser calls are nothing new. Normally, I receive a handful a month calling to ask questions about properties I have sold or asking for my opinion on a particular property they are trying to value. Now, I am receiving several appraisal calls per [...]
Citigroup may be looking to sell or shut down some of its 1,001 retail bank branches in the U.S. and Canada. Citi wants to focus on their core markets of New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. DealBook has more here.
Needless to say, this is not good news for capitalization rates for [...]
Just saw this post on Zero Hedge about a downgrade of a recent Re-REMIC issue by Standard & Poor’s. re-REMIC’s are repackaged mortgage-backed securities of a supposedly more secure pedigree as they were to have been constructed of securities identified to be of better quality and thus less likely to default. Now, just 4 months [...]
I have embedded a presentation from Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. outlining their strategy for participating in the PPIP program. It is quite interesting as it outlines their view of the investment opportunity presented through PPIP.
One key item that caught my eye was their prediction that retail property capitalization rates will be 900 basis points over [...]
Retail News Blog put up good post this morning titled Capitalization Rates Without Market Activity which addresses the problem in the marketplace of determining property values with little or no market data available. With fewer and fewer sale transactions taking place, appraisers are left in the dubious position of valuing property without comparable sales data. [...]
There have been a handful of blog posts and various articles written about the curious decision of Standard & Poor’s to upgrade several commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) to a triple-A rating just one week after downgrading those same securities to junk or near-junk status of double-B and triple-B minus. What is interesting is that [...]
The Financial Times reported yesterday that Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have issued warnings that the trouble in the commercial real estate industry continues to mount. Some key points from the FT article:
Morgan Stanley takes a $700 million CRE write-down in the 2nd quarter
3rd straight quarterly loss for Morgan Stanley
Wells Fargo states non-performing [...]
