If 2010 was the year of the recap, it also was the year of the takeover. As voting for the 2010 Global PERE Awards draws to a close, it’s been left to Apollo Global Real Estate, The Blackstone Group and Brookfield Asset Management to fight over which strategy should take the top honours.
With more than 3,000 votes cast so far in PERE’s fifth annual awards – and less than four days until voting closes – Apollo, Blackstone and Brookfield are gripped in a number of tight races, which could see them or their 2010 recaps and takeovers named Firm and/or Deal of the Year.
Blackstone’s takeover of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Asia platform currently is pitted in a three-way race for Global Deal of the Year against Apollo’s takeover of Citi Property Investors’ platform and the Brookfield-led recapitalisation of General Growth Properties.
However, Blackstone’s BoAML deal also is engaged in a close fight with MGPA and Pacific Alliance Group for Asia Deal of the Year. MGPA’s leasing of its Asia Square property in Singapore to Citibank and the management-led buyout of Secured Capital Japan and its merger with Pacific Alliance are both within a few percentage points of Blackstone.
In North America, Blackstone and Brookfield are facing down tough competition from Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group as they garner votes for the title of North America Firm of the Year. As PERE went to press, there were just 17 individual votes separating the three firms.
Europe also is seeing the same battles between takeover and transactions, with MGPA, Peakside Capital and the Rockefeller Group in a three-way campaign to clinch Europe Deal of the Year. There are just a few percentage points dividing MGPA’s purchase and leaseback of Aldi supermarkets in Germany, the management-led buyout of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s European platform and formation of Peakside Capital and the Rockefeller Group’s acquisition of a majority interest in Europa Capital.
Voting for the 2010 Global PERE Awards closes at midnight on Monday, 24 January, so don’t waste time in saying which firm, deal or individual you thought stood out from the crowd over the last year.
To vote in the Global category, click here
To vote in North America category, click here
To vote in Europe category, click here
To vote in Asia category, click here
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