Republican Ray LaHood, picked by US president-elect Barack Obama as transportation secretary, is described by those who know him as a 'main street conservative'. Obama's choice came as a surprise to some who were expecting a more high-profile candidates like Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell or Minnesota representative Jim Oberstar.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
Sullivan, Ward, Asher & Patton attorney, Laurence Smith, and the founder of Heller-White Hotel Management, Mitchell Heller, are raising their first private equity real estate fund focused on hospitality developments in Hawaii. The 10-year fund is targeting IRRs of more than 20%.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
As the real estate industry looks forward to 2009, PrivateEquityRealEstate.com looks back at the past 12 months and the most read stories of the year. Dreier founder, Marc Dreier, admitting to key aspects of a $113m scam was the number one story.
3 min read · 22 January 2013
The UK student housing developer says it could take months to pursue roughly £30 million from its private equity vehicle trapped by the collapse of Icelandic bank Landsbanki. It comes as defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers looks to sell its equity stake in a joint venture with Unite.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
As the industry steels itself against a potential regulatory backlash in Europe, certain members of the European Parliament, including Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, have railed against the pro-private equity stance of the internal markets commissioner.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers warns that investors in the Manhattan, Denver and San Francisco office markets are expecting rents to fall by around 2% in 2009. Cap rates will also rise by up to 2%.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
The New York-based private equity firm has agreed to buy a 70% stake in Flagstar Bancorp as long as the US government injects $250m from the Troubled Assets Relief Program in the bank.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
One of the firm’s portfolio companies, Aozora Bank, is a victim in the alleged Ponzi scheme, and the chairman of another portfolio company controls a feeder entity that may have lost $1.8bn to Madoff.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
Non-listed property vehicles are increasing the visibility of their fee structures, according to a study by INREV. However fund managers still use a wide range of methods to calculate their annual management fee, with value-added and opportunistic funds charging on average 0.65 percent and 1.37 percent each year.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
The $17bn endowment has suffered from declining financial markets. The university says it has been establishing reserves in anticipation of 'substantial' write-downs in its private equity and real estate portfolio. Real assets, including real estate, makes up a quarter of the fund's portfolio.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
