Real Estate

U.S. REITs build solid deal with unusual blocks

29 April 2021

Realty Income is paying $11 bln for Vereit in an all-stock deal with some financial engineering and a spinoff on the side. That might normally prompt investor confusion and distrust. But better management, some cost savings, and separating office buildings is a good idea.

Capital Calls: Bank of America, WeWork, Kering

20 April 2021

Concise views on global finance: The bank’s shareholders voted against a deeper dive into its impact on racial inequality; the office landlord is taking bitcoin as payment, for now; the Gucci owner needs to run faster to catch arch-rival LVMH.

Capital Calls: Christine Lagarde, Bernie Madoff

14 April 2021

Concise views on global finance: The European Central Bank president’s quest for inflation will take a while to achieve its goal; investor gullibility will live on after the death of the Ponzi schemer in a U.S. federal prison.

Capital Calls: LVMH surges back to full health

13 April 2021

Concise views on global finance: The 300 billion euro luxury conglomerate’s first-quarter sales surpass pre-Covid-19 levels.

Hong Kong-on-Thames lies in not-too-distant future

13 April 2021

Real estate tycoons from the former British colony are rushing to build new homes in London. They appeal to Hong Kong residents taking up UK visas, and offer a better return on investment than at home. It’s a bold bet on the capital’s pandemic-afflicted property market.

Capital Calls: U.S. CEO pay

12 April 2021

Concise views on global finance: The median big-company boss is ending up with $13.7 mln for the 2020 pandemic year, a payout that's heading for a record.

Capital Calls: Cellebrite good times

8 April 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The Israeli cracker of mobile-phone encryption is going public via a SPAC at a $2.4 billion valuation.

Viewsroom: Asia’s E-car mania, U.S. infrastructure

8 April 2021

Huawei makes telecoms, Haier dishwashers, Xiaomi phones, Evergrande condos. Now, these Chinese companies all want to make battery-powered vehicles too. And while on the subject of building, U.S. President Joe Biden is going big. Maybe too big for the bean counters in the Senate.

Capital Calls: Elon Musk, LeBron James

1 April 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Endeavor, Ari Emanuel’s entertainment group, is hoping the Tesla boss’s stardust will help a second attempt at an IPO; the basketball star’s stake in the Red Sox is a foil to Steve Cohen’s Mets deal.

Messy Singapore deal strains to lay new foundation

24 March 2021

CapitaLand wants to sell its property development arm to backer Temasek and list the rest. Even if investors are willing to embrace a carve-up of the $15 bln company, achieving a desired valuation closer to peers such as Lendlease will be hard in a yield-focused market.

Office landlords can live with homeworking shock

19 March 2021

Firms like HSBC hope working from home will let them cut costs. Goldman Sachs thinks it is a fad. Yet even if employees spend more time at home, their needs and social distancing rules will limit how much space can be freed up. The slump in office property stocks looks overdone.

Capital Calls: TV’s royal boost, Shared offices

9 March 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan is a boon for ViacomCBS’s streaming ambitions; IWG’s revamp depends on a workplace revolution.

Capital Calls: Shutterfly’s touch-up

5 March 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: A SPAC may give photo-sharing firm Shutterfly a shiny new frame.

Compass IPO value is all about location

4 March 2021

The SoftBank-backed realtor may be worth $37 bln if it is benchmarked against Zillow. As a regular realtor, though, its value drops 90%. Compass is growing like a tech company but also paying for the privilege. That suggests it could be the worst property on the best block.

Capital Calls: Sarkozy’s trial

1 March 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: the former French prime minister’s conviction for trying to bribe a judge creates a new dilemma for the companies on whose board he sits, including hotel chain Accor.

Airbnb’s post-IPO showing is a pre-SPAC throwback

25 February 2021

The home-sharing app’s quarterly revenue fell 22%, yet still beat rivals. Because it went through its growing pains in private, Airbnb’s first results as a listed company show an already solid business. Many startups taking the blank-check route to market won’t have that luxury.

Capital Calls: Bubble alert

16 February 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Bitcoin burst through $50,000, and global fund managers are maximum bullish on the pace of the recovery from the pandemic.

WeWork tiptoes back to the water cooler

10 February 2021

The office-sharing firm may go public via a SPAC, its first foray with public investors since 2019’s disastrous flirtation. This time WeWork has fewer quirks, improving cash flows and less hype. At $13 bln, well below its peak valuation, a deal looks doable.

UK wind auctions are frothy for a reason

8 February 2021

The toppy price paid by BP for wind turbine-friendly seabed reflects its desperation to pivot to green energy. But the UK’s subsidy-laden regime is also more attractive than those of other states. That makes wind maven Orsted’s reluctance to match the UK major even more striking.

Corona Capital: UK’s quarantine, U.S. prisons

27 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Britain’s new quarantine rules are weak, but will still hurt the travel industry; and for-profit prisons lose business to the U.S. government.