EDITION MAIN PAGE | Commercial Real Estate
REALTY CAPITAL ROUNDUP
- CNL, Macquarie Plan $1.5B Global REIT
- Erickson Retirement Calls It a Day After 26 Years
- Prudential Mortgage Capital's Loan Spigot Running Strong
- Fed Loses First Round in Fight With Lend America
- Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Stock Called Worthless
- Big-Name Non-Traded REITs Slash Dividends
- Forest City Getting Close to $750M Credit Facility Renewal
- FTI and Compass Form Boutique Investment Bank
(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA) -- CNL Financial Group, a 36-year-old, privately-held Orlando, FL real estate and development company, is joint-venturing with Sydney, Australia-based Macquarie Group to form CNL Macquarie Global Growth Trust which has launched a $1.5 billion intial public offering.
The common shares are priced at $10. CNL Securities Corp. will be the managing dealer.
Curtis McWilliams
"We're trying to be very opportunistic," CNL Real Estate president and CEO Curtis McWilliams tells Commercial Property Executive magazine. "Macquarie has investment operations in all parts of the world, so we're relying on them to identify opportunities outside the U.S. in locating where we have the best opportunity for value creation for our investors on arisk-adjusted basis."
(DALLAS, TX) -- John C. Erickson, the pioneer of continuing-care retirement communities, has placed his 26-year-old Erickson Retirement Communities LLC into Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
The reason: Dwindling occupancy at Erickson's 19 managed communities due to deflated home values of senior citizens. The Seniors normally sell their homes before relocating to a nursing care campus.
Waiting in the wings with an undisclosed offer for the Erickson assets is James C. Davis, chairman, Redwood Capital Investments LLC of Hanover, MD. The Bankruptcy Court in Dallas is reviewing Davis's offer.
(NEW YORK, NY) -- Prudential Mortgage Capital has loaned a total $5 billion in the first nine months of 2009 and has another $5 billion to $6 billion to lend over the next 18 months.
That's what Melissa Farrell, managing director, Prudential Mortgage Capital, told corporate real estate executives meeting at a bi-weekly luncheon at Manhattan's 62-year-old Williams Club.
Farrell said Pru seeks leverage in the 55 percent to 65 percent range, a stable cash flow, 12 percent to 14 percent debt yield and clients in the grocery-anchored retail center and multifamily developments, according to RealEstateBisNow.com.
Pru closed $7.7 billion of loans in 2008.
At the same luncheon, George Klett, chair of the commercial real estate committee at Signature Bank based in Bad Axe, MI, said his bank is approving loans in the $1 million to $15 million range on office and retail properties - but not for strip malls. "I don't know anyone who is doing that right now."
(NEW YORK, NY) -- A federal judge has denied a federal government request to temporarily bar New York City-based Lend America and its affiliates from making allegedly improper FHA loans.
U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco ruled the mortgage broker could continue to make the loans while the Justice Department's civil lawsuit against the firm is pending. Lend America is the 22nd largest FHA loan originator in the U.S.
In the suit, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) alleges Lend America falsely certified that borrowers who received over $14 million in loans met FHA's lending requirements.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., a New York City-based bank analysts group, has trimmed the common stock of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to zero from $1 per share.
Bose George, senior vice president at KBW, and his team of analysts conclude the stock of the two largest purchasers of U.S. home mortgages is worthless.
In a prepared letter to clients, the KBW analysts say, "In our view, the only viable option to limit taxpayer expense and recapitalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is to set up a Bad Fannie and a Bad Freddie with the existing portfolios, and a new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as cooperatives of bank mortgage lenders, along the lines of the GSEs (government agencies)" such as the Federal Home Loan Banks.
The government has poured $98 million of capital into Fannie and Freddie since putting the two agencies into conservatorship.
Both agencies have had a round of top executives command the boardroom in the past 12 months. At Fannie Mae, Michael J. Williams is the current CEO. At Freddie Mac, John A. Koskinen is the interim CEO.
(NEW YORK, NY) -- Big-name non-traded real estate investment trusts that used to pay investors quarterly or annual dividends in the 6% to 7% range are now cutting them sharply, some to as low as 1%, according to Wall Street sources.
Among the firms are Behringer Harvard REIT I, Inland America Real Estate Trust, Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust and Piedmont Office Realty Trust, according to Investmentnews.com.
"Commercial real estate is, and always has been a lagging economic indicator," James Paulsen, chief investment strategist with Wells Capital Management, tells Investment News.
"The commercial real estate market could reach its bottom in the middle of next year," Paulsen says. "And lagging indicators often are balanced by more positive economic news, such as growth in profits and an increase in jobs."
(CLEVELAND, OH) -- Forest City Enterprises Inc., headed by chairman and CEO Charles A. Ratner, says it has preliminary commitments of about 60 percent from a 14-member bank consortium to renew the company's $750 million revolving credit facility.
Separately, Forest City announced $150.3 million at 100 percent in refinancings and loan extensions not previously reported. The transactions included $97.2 million related to consolidated properties, and $53.1 million related to unconsolidated properties.
(WEST PALM BEACH, FL) -- FTI Consulting Inc. (NYSE:FCN) of West Palm Beach, FL and New York City-based Compass Advisers have formed EdgeRock Realty Advisers, an independent boutique-style investment bank based in Manhattan.
Co-CEOs of EdgeRock are Bruce Schonbraun and Stephen M. Waters. Schonbraun is senior managing director and and head of global real estate for FTI. Waters is the founder and managing partner of Compass.
"As a result of the economic and financial dislocation of the past 18 months, the global real estate marketplace is in a state of significant flux," says Schonbraun.
"We believe the sector will present market participants with further challenges and also unique opportunities over the next two years."
Adds Waters: "...This new venture will bring the values of independence, trust and discretion to clients in the global real estate market."
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