News & Analysis

The Middle Eastern market is being affected by the credit crunch as it looks to cut back on ‘overcapacity’. The investment bank operates various private equity and real estate funds, including a $533m Saudi hospitality fund.

The German commercial real estate lender, partially owned by private equity firms JC Flowers and Grove International, has secured another liquidity guarantee from the government, on top of the €20bn already promised.

Property markets in the Middle East and India are underserved in terms of luxury real estate developments, according to Donald Trump Jr, son of real estate mogul Donald Trump. Trump Jr is reportedly raising $1bn to target high-end real estate projects in India, with an initial focus on Mumbai.

The California-based oil change service provider is selling its assets to its lenders, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone debt unit GSO Capital Partners, amid steep losses. The company blames the recession, high gas prices and negative publicity for its bankruptcy filing.

The $97bn pension, which has lost about $30bn since the end of June, increased the upper limit of its target private equity allocation to account for the denominator effect.

Regulators have reportedly rejected the joint venture, and instead allowed CITIC to launch a private equity arm expected to raise RMB 6bn for its first fund.

The private equity real estate firm, which last year hired 10 RREEF executives, is targeting IRRs of 16% for its first value-added fund. The firm has also just refinanced a mixed-use redevelopment joint venture in New Jersey for $70m.

The London-based property investment manager has bought a 204-unit former Archstone housing complex through its $205m value-added multifamily fund, CASA IV. It is the fund's third acquisition of 2008 and ninth in total.

The retirement community REIT, American Land Lease, will be bought by the Chicago-based private equity real estate firm. The deal is expected to close early 2009.

The $182bn Sacramento, California-based pension, struggling with the denominator effect, will vote next week on whether to raise the upper limit of its target allocation to real estate and private equity. The pension's real estate portfolio is currently 1.6% overweighted.