Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
AIG
Business Times - 05 Jun 2009
AIG to sell its iconic New York headquarters
(WASHINGTON) New York City was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s, and companies were abandoning the crime-ridden metropolis for offices in New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island.
But a growing insurance company named American International Group (AIG) placed its lot with the city's future and purchased a skyscraper at 70 Pine Street.
Over the next three decades, AIG would grow into a global giant, operating in more than 130 countries, only to crash spectacularly during last autumn's financial crisis. Now, as it struggles to pay back billions in aid from US taxpayers, the company has agreed to sell its iconic New York headquarters, according to people familiar with the deal.
The towering art deco building at 70 Pine Street is one of the city's tallest, rising 66 stories and nearly 1,000 feet above lower Manhattan's financial district. AIG plans to complete the sale of the building and another nearby at 72 Wall Street by summer's end, sources said.
The company confirmed the sale on Wednesday but declined to provide details about the buyer or the selling price. But a person familiar with the deal said that the buyer was a foreign company. Experts have estimated the sale of the headquarters at about US$100 million, far below what it likely would have commanded before layoffs consumed Wall Street and the real estate market collapsed.
'It's kind of the classic New York skyscraper,' said Daniel Abramson, professor of art history at Tufts University and author of Skyscraper Rivals: The AIG Building and the Architecture of Wall Street. He added: 'If there are images of the city that stand for it, the AIG building is one of those.'
The steel-framed skyscraper, clad in masonry, was finished towards the end of a jazz-age building boom that ended during the Great Depression. It was completed in 1932 to house Cities Service Co, later known as Citgo.
It featured a state-of-art design for its time - double- decker elevators, hot-water heating and a sleek lobby of marble and polished steel. A soaring spire topped the structure and glowed high above the city at night. A small observatory enclosed entirely in glass offered breathtaking panoramas of Manhattan.
In 1976, it caught the eye of Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg, AIG's chief executive at the time.
'We were desperate for more space,' he recalled. 'We were growing and growing. We grew into the building quickly. I believed New York City would be the nexus of where to be. It was a tremendous buy. We bought it for US$15 million.'
Mayor Abe Beame held a news conference to thank AIG for its willingness to resist the exodus and remain in the city.
'It's a great symbol. It's too bad,' Mr Greenberg said of the pending sale. 'I don't see the logic in selling your head office building, which is an image around the world, in the midst of a real estate depression. It doesn't make any sense.'
But AIG spokeswoman Christina Pretto said that the sale is right for the company. 'It makes sense from an expense standpoint and from a space standpoint,' she said. -- LAT-WP
Business Times - 03 Jun 2009
AIG cuts asking price for Taiwan unit
TAIPEI - American International Group (AIG) has lowered its asking price for its Taiwan insurance unit to US$1.8-US$2.0 billion, prompting interest from three investors, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.
AIG had previous sought to sell Nan Shan Life, it's 95 per cent-owned unit, for US$2-US$2.5 billion, the Economic Daily reported, citing unnamed sources.
The lower price has attracted interest from a global private equity firm, Taiwan's Fubon Financial and China Life, the Chinese-language paper said.
An AIG executive is set to visit Asia to talk to the private equity firm because its offered price topped those of the other two, it said.
Officials at the companies could not be reached immediately for comment.
The sale comes as the bailed-out US insurer seeks to raise cash to pay back government debt. AIG confirmed in May it was to speed up plans to list its Asian subsidiary through an IPO that could raise more than US$4 billion.
At mid-day trading, shares of Fubon were down 2.2 per cent while China Life had advanced 5.4 per cent. Taiwan's broader market declined 0.87 per cent. -- REUTERS
Business Times - 03 Jun 2009
AIG asset mgt unit attracts Asia investors
* Temasek, Pacific Century may join bidding group: source
* Reaches deal for NY HQ, Wall St building: source
* AIG to sell Argentina consumer finance ops for US$44m
* Negotiating Colombia, Mex consumer finance sale: source
* Shares off 4.2%
NEW YORK - Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd and Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li's Pacific Century Group may join an investor group in talks to buy American International Group Inc's (AIG) asset management unit, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Franklin Resources Inc and Crestview Partners LP are in exclusive talks for the business, and the two Asian investors are considering taking part in that consortium, the source said.
The asset management business, which rests with AIG Investments, had drawn interest from both private equity and strategic buyers, sources have said previously. Initial bids for the unit had come in around US$500 million.
AIG also agreed to sell two New York buildings, including its downtown Manhattan headquarters, another source familiar with the matter said.
The insurer's headquarters at 70 Pine Street are in a 66-story building topped with a Gothic-like spire. It was the tallest building in downtown Manhattan prior to the building of the World Trade Centre. Occupants of the office are likely to stay there through the end of 2010.
The other building is located at 72 Wall Street, and employees are to be relocated by the end of this year, the source said.
Both buildings, which are connected by a skywalk, were constructed in 1932 and have been owned and operated by AIG since the 1970s.
The source declined to name the buyer or the value of the deal.
Separately, AIG said it agreed to sell its consumer finance operations in Argentina for nearly US$44 million to Banco Galicia and an investment group led by Grupo Pegasus.
Banco Galicia bought 80 per cent of the company and the Pegasus investment group purchased the remaining 20 per cent.
AIG is also in negotiations to sell its consumer finance businesses in Colombia and Mexico, another source familiar with the matter said.
AIG bought Inversora Pichincha, which was the third-largest consumer finance company in Colombia, from Ecuador-based Banco Pichincha CA and other minority shareholders last year.
AIG declined to comment. Pacific Century and Temasek could not be reached immediately for comment after hours. The sources are anonymous because the talks are private.
The moves are part of a larger divestiture program by AIG, as it looks to sell assets to pay back the US government. The government has committed some US$180 billion to AIG's rescue, including about US$85 billion in loans that the insurer is trying to repay with these divestitures.
-- REUTERS
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Orchard Road
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 17, 2014
MONDAY MULTIPLE
Location, location, location
It is easy to say that location is important for property, but the details are tricky
Lacklustre performance: In its latest financial results after the Bedok Mall opening, occupancy at Bedok Point slipped to 80.2% from 96.7% in the previous quarter. -FILE PHOTO
WHEN we buy property, we are told that location is all that matters. But defining a good location is easier said than done. Does it mean buying something in a central and accessible area? Central to what? Accessible to whom?
There are wheels within wheels, and locations within locations.
To understand this, look no further than Orchard Road, and two malls side by side there: Somerset 313, which sits atop Somerset MRT, and Orchard Central beside it.
Theoretically, an Orchard Road property sounds good. Let's say I offer you two commercial buildings, both within walking distance of Somerset MRT, both located along Orchard Road, Singapore's premier shopping belt. Who doesn't want to own either?
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Waterfront, Prime...Room With A View
The Long Play
Similar to this in logic but more exclusive locations on the globe
SAFE HAVEN
California mansions are being bought by Chinese families, foreign tycoons and US celebrities as a hedge against currency and stock market disasters or the vicissitudes of politics. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
California mansions are being bought by Chinese families, foreign tycoons and US celebrities as a hedge against currency and stock market disasters or the vicissitudes of politics. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Los Angeles
BLUE JAY Way, a street that inspired a Beatles song, snakes above Los Angeles, lined with glassy mansions that jut like diving boards from earthquake-prone cliffs.
One of the houses, a mid-century bungalow with an oval pool and a panoramic vista of the Los Angeles basin, rents for US$27,000 a month. The owner, who lives in London, paid US$2.25 million, or US$835 a square foot, two years ago for the three-bedroom, three-bath home.
"This is a very safe investment," Tyrone McKillen, an agent with Beverly Hills, California-based brokerage Hilton & Hyland Real Estate Inc, said as he walked through 1505 Blue Jay Way. "It's all about the view." While the cliffside properties seem perfectly perched for a Hollywood disaster movie, they're the equivalent of "safety deposit boxes" for wealthy global investors, according to Jonathan Miller, president of appraiser Miller Samuel Inc.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Hawaii
2019
Holiday Inn Express in Waikiki is available for purchase
A high-rise hotel in Honolulu’s popular Waikiki section is on the block with expectations that bids will approach $225 million.
The 596-room Holiday Inn Express Waikiki, which opened two years ago following an extensive renovation, has an estimated value of roughly $375,000/room, or $223.5 million. Eastdil Secured is representing the owner, a joint venture between C.V. Starr & Co. of New York and Clearview Hotel Capital of Newport Beach, Calif.
A sale would mark a quick turnaround for the property. The joint venture acquired it for $102.6 million in 2015, when it operated as the Maile Sky Court Hotel, and conducted a $30 million renovation. The hotel reopened in February 2017, touted as the largest Holiday Inn Express in the U.S.
The property is offered subject to a franchise agreement that runs until 2042 with InterContinental Hotels, the U.K. company that operates the Holiday Inn brand. But in 2022, a buyer would have the option of either rebranding half the rooms with another flag, operating them as a separate, independent hotel or selling them off as time-share units.
The property is still ramping up its performance to be in line with its competitive set. On average, upper-midscale hotels in Waikiki were 83.1% occupied last year, up from 82.7% the previous year, according to STR. Rates grew 3.8% to an average of $150.31/room, pushing revenue up 4.4% to $124.97/room. Marketing materials note that visitor arrivals to the island of Oahu were up 4.4% in the year ending in November, with average stays and spending per visitor also increasing.
The 43-story building was completed in 1984. The rooms are above a five-level podium that contains the lobby, three levels of parking that generates revenue, and retail space. There is an outdoor pool, a sky deck and fitness and business centers.
The hotel is at 2058 Kuhio Avenue, about a block from the high-end shopping district along Kalakaua Avenue and three blocks from Waikiki Beach
- Japan lead foreign investors in Hawaii
- Chinese - high rise by Ala Moana
- 888 Ala Moana - jv - not proceeding
- Investment trends in Hotels
Lack of Hawaii apartment inventory ‘stumps’ investors
Hawaii’s lack of apartment inventory “stumped” investors in 2013, according to a market summary report from Apartment Advisors, even as the average price for an apartment jumped 29 percent during the fourth quarter.
The average price per apartment unit topped $207,000 during fourth quarter 2013, the summary said, a 29 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2012.
In all, 702 units in a total of 62 buildings were sold in 2013, compared to the 729 units sold in 2012.
“For the majority of 2013, a lack of quality inventory remained one of the biggest challenges,” said the report, which was authored by Jared Ikeda, president of Apartment Advisors. “Many investors flush with cash and equipped with historically low interest rates were stumped by the lack of properties available for purchase.”
A “whopping” 87 percent of all transactions were under $3 million, the report said.
Boston
Behind Boston's surging wave of new luxury apartments
Here’s the question developers of luxury apartment buildings in Boston are asking: If we built it, will they come?
Over the next three years, nearly 10,000 upscale apartments and condos are expected to open in Boston, testing the city’s appetite for high-end living with a record level of construction.
Already tenants and buyers are showing a strong demand for high-end living in the Downtown area. For example, The Kensington, the 381-unit tower in Chinatown opened last fall, and it is nearly 50 percent full, while developer Gerding Edlen, has leased one quarter of the 202 units at the “315 on A” high rise. And at the 15-story Millennium Place condos in Downtown Crossing, only five of 256 condos have yet to sell.
Travis D’Amato, a senior vice president atJones Lang LaSalle who sells multifamily properties, said there could be some softness in the market in 2015, given the number of units expected to open that year. But overall, he’s bullish about the demand for luxury units.
“There will be some scratching and clawing for tenants, but we are seeing a significant increase in demand for downtown housing,” D’Amato said. “While it may seem like a very large increase to the luxury stock, it’s not a large increase as a percentage of rental housing in the city of Boston.”
But not everyone is convinced there are enough well-heeled tenants to fill $3,000 per month apartments. If the skeptics are right, it won’t be the first time Boston overbuilt one property type. As Harold Brown, the octogenarian developer and landlord, puts it: “The glut will bring rents down, and some developers and banks will lose money.”
Designer Outlet at YVR
MacArthur Glen designer outlet coming to YVR 2015
Construction on B.C.’s first designer outlet mall has begun on a 12-hectare parcel of land at Vancouver’s airport.
The first phase will be dedicated to about 220 luxury retail stores as well as restaurant and cafes.
The architecture for the two piazzas are inspired by Vancouver sites like the Sinclair Centre Complex, the Vancouver Rowing Club and historic Gastown.
This will be McArthurGlen’s first designer outlet in North America, set to open in Spring 2015. The company’s outlets in Europe are known for brands such as Prada, Armani, Burberry, Gucci and Hugo Boss.
Many 太太's already know their Outlet Malls outside London. There are tour buses full of overseas Chinese shoppers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)