News & Analysis

The US conglomerate said it was looking to cut its commercial real estate assets to $80bn from $90bn over the next year as part of the firm’s plans to scale back on its financial arm, GE Capital.

The real estate investment arm of insurer Prudential Financial and Hong Kong company Minmetals are reportedly buying a 99 percent stake in a housing project in Nanjing, China.

The global mid-market buyout group has upped its investments in buyout and infrastructure deals, despite a roughly 40 percent fall in the total value of its investments over the past five months. The firm’s realisations also slowed significantly.

The agreement to inject funds into Plantation Place, near Liverpool Street station, follows a breach of banking covenant by its owners Invista Foundation Property Trust and Tishman International.

Songbird Estates, whose main investment is Canary Wharf Group which owns the London-based European headquarters of Lehman Brothers, says the full impact of Lehman’s demise is hard to quantify. Lehman’s leases more than 1 million square feet in a building in Canary Wharf.

The Houston-based real estate investment firm is paying a record $235m – $4,900 per square foot – for the San Francisco site of the firm’s planned Transbay Tower project. The development is expected to be the tallest building on the US West Coast.

American Capital’s publicly traded European affiliate has invested in the warehouse and logistics firm, just four months after Arcapita bought Central and East European logistics company, Pinnacle Real Estate.

JC Flowers' founder may use the First National Bank of Cainesville as a platform acquisition for other distressed and failed deposit-taking institutions, according to a regulatory filing.

The EU’s internal markets commissioner has highlighted the importance of private equity in stabilising the European economy and distanced the asset class from the causes of current financial markets turbulence. Charlie McCreevy’s comments come on the heels of a European Parliament vote in favour of industry regulations.

Sacramento, California-based private equity firm Dunmore Capital says finished lots in parts of the US are now selling for steep discounts. Founder Sid Dunmore warns there is more pain ahead for developers.