Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘Citi’

Commercial Real Estate Week In Review for the Week of August 7-13

- Bank of America is seeing very few requests from investors and insurers to repurchase sour loans.

- Could teaming up with REITs be a way for pension funds to boost their returns?

- Industrial Income REIT has been busy, buying 16 assets for $43.5 M.

- How does the Volcker rule change the game for private equity investments?

- Grant Thornton is predicting there will not be a recovery in commercial real estate until 2011.
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About a year ago we dedicated an entire week’s worth of posts to famed Analyst Meredith Whitney. As a quick refresher, she was responsible for “the call” on Citi, where she (almost prophetically) predicted that Citi was in serious trouble. Following a quick rise to fame, she was subsequently dubbed the “Oracle of Wall Street.” She left her job at Oppenheimer and started her own advisory firm: Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, LLC (rolls off the tongue, no?). She even made Forbes.com’s Best Analysts: Stock Pickers list. Her new advice: avoid anything related to the financial industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year!  Llenrock’s New Year’s Resolution is to stay away from deals in 2010 that were as catastrophic as these turned out to be.  What’s your new year’s resolution?

5. Iceland & Ireland Lenders - Investing in Iceland and Ireland: Two years ago, these plucky little island nations were the toast of Europe. Now they’re just toast, undone by continent-size bank debts and, in Ireland’s case, a real estate bubble to boot. Good news for travelers: they’re a lot cheaper to visit now. Read the rest of this entry »

Two years ago, when Llenrock Group was founded, we saw an opportunity to step into a niche role as a small investment bank that focused exclusively on small to mid-size commercial real estate transactions.  Shortly after we started, markets fell off a cliff.  As a result, the need for specialized I-Banks has become more obvious, and a lot of new players are jumping on the opportunity.  Crain’s New York Business published an article yesterday highlighting this opportunity and the I-Banks that are ramping up their teams to give the big dogs a run for their money.  What is the focus of these I-Banks and what differentiates them from the juggernauts on Wall Street?

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The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled last Friday that Citigroup must maintain the “status quo” of the Destiny USA New York shopping mall project.  Basically, that means that Citigroup will not yet be allowed to cease lending to the construction of the mall being built by developer Robert Congel.  While it is still possible for Citi to get out of the remainder of the loan commitment (the lower court still has to have a trial on the “success” of the project), the ruling sets a precedent that will make it increasingly more difficult for lenders to renege on their construction financing commitments.
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The 10 Biggest Bailout Recipients -

Now he tells us!

If you’re reading this, I can’t imagine you’re exactly blown away by Mr. Ross’s ‘vision’.  We in the commercial real estate world have been living the slow motion train wreck for many, many months.  Ross’s comments are especially interesting, however, when you consider he participated in the purchase of $0.5 Billion of real estate debt on October 6th.  Perhaps it was the $1.39 Billion loan from the FDIC that made him more comfortable with the asset class.

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The Week of October 10-16

- There’s two kinds of small banks: The kind that didn’t make bad loans, and the kind that won’t be around much longer.

- Banks that want to grow apparently won’t be looking to commercial real estate.

- A Northeast HUB for industrial space, Northern New Jersey, has seen sublease space hit a six year high.

- $55 billion in mortgage servicing writedowns has hit the 4 biggest banks, including JP Morgan.

- Capmark may finally file for bankruptcy.
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The Week of August 8-14

- Bernanke, or not to Bernanke? That is the question.

Where will funds and REITs turn to with little available private capital? The public, of course.

- Freddie Mac reported a quarterly profit.

- The largest deal of 2009 in the Pittsburgh region went down this week to the tune of $90M.

- S&P lowered its ratings for 19 different classes of Chase CMBS. Read the rest of this entry »