Judging from the panoply of deals and fund closings announced during the last week of 2006, private equity real estate investors don’t seem to take many holidays. While many industry practitioners (journalists among them) hit the slopes, sipped eggnog or just sat on the couch and watched American football, some enterprising firms were busy capping off one of the most active years in the history of the asset class.
3 min read · 01 February 2013
The end of any year brings with it the inevitable flurry of top 10 lists, awards ceremonies, New Year’s resolutions and soggy rum-soaked fruitcakes. Here at Private Equity Real Estate, things are no different—at least when it comes to awards ceremonies. We don’t really like fruitcake.
3 min read · 01 February 2013
A few years ago, a Hong Kong hotelier told a PERE reporter about the curious buying habits of the Chinese. While tourists and visitors to Hong Kong would trek into mainland China to buy counterfeit luxury goods, Chinese nationals were increasingly coming into Hong Kong to buy the real thing.
2 min read · 01 February 2013
Sports franchises have long been considered “vanity investments,” money-losing endeavors that serve to bolster the status of their well-heeled owners at the expense of their bottom lines. But a growing cadre of investors, private equity and otherwise, are increasingly looking at the sector, particularly European football clubs. And they’re counting on more than just success on the field to turn a profit. Oftentimes, real estate comes into play as well.
3 min read · 01 February 2013
The acquisition of Equity Office Properties has been the talk of the real estate world for a few weeks now—and rightly so. Huge deal, well-known players and the usual holiday dearth of news has understandably kept the story at the forefront of the national business press.
2 min read · 01 February 2013
It was once asked by a reporter of a former bank robber: ‘Why do you rob banks?’ The incredulous answer that came back his way was: ‘Because that’s where all the money is.’
3 min read · 01 February 2013
Last week, Apollo Real Estate Advisors’ new debt vehicle, Apollo Real Estate Finance Corporation, extended $90 million in mezzanine financing to 20 Pine – The Collection, a new condominium project in Manhattan. Located in the former headquarters of Chemical Bank, the building is in Manhattan’s financial district—an increasingly desirable address as every square foot of the island is colonized for high-end residential use.
2 min read · 01 February 2013
One little known fact about the Ukraine is that it boasts a population of 46 million, making it the most populous country in Eastern Europe. By contrast, Poland only has 38 million people, yet so far it has attracted the most investment out of all countries in the region.
3 min read · 01 February 2013
The amount of capital flowing into real estate is pushing opportunistic investors into an increasingly expanding number of investment strategies and geographic sectors—at least judging by the diverse speakers and panelists at the inaugural North American Private Equity Real Estate Forum, held earlier this week in New York City.
3 min read · 01 February 2013
As Tip O’Neill, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, famously said: “All politics is local.” And, according to the conventional wisdom, so is the real estate business. At the Pension Real Estate Association conference in Washington DC earlier this week, the nexus between real estate and politics was on full display.
3 min read · 01 February 2013
