Property

China Evergrande pawns the family silver

17 Aug 2020

The country’s largest developer is again taking a quirky approach to a trend. As rivals float property management arms, Evergrande sold 28% of its own to 14 investors at a $10.7 bln valuation. They have a put option if there’s no IPO, but boss Hui Ka Yan now has options too.

Corona Capital: Telemedicine, Outdated movie rules

10 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Men’s wellness outfit Hims matches the online medical consultation trend with a financial one, namely blank-check companies; and Washington finally scraps a “Gone with the Wind”-era regulation.

Hammerson asks investors to catch a falling knife

6 Aug 2020

The UK mall operator will raise 825 mln pounds through a deeply discounted rights issue and sale. That should keep debt under control. However, the group must still sell assets when Covid-19 and online shopping are hurting stores and property values remain in flux.

Investors lead the rush back into India’s offices

28 Jul 2020

Singapore’s state funds are top investors in the IPO of Blackstone-backed Mindspace, a $2 bln real estate investment trust. Work-from-home woes will prop up property demand as developers face a liquidity squeeze. The high yields on offer are a strong pull as interest rates fall.

Corona Capital: Mets star bidders, Robot slayers

10 Jul 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Power couple J. Lo and A-Rod are giving hedge fund manager Steve Cohen competition for the New York Mets baseball team; Covid-19 is accelerating automation of the meat industry.

Corona Capital: Tesla, OPEC

2 Jul 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Tesla speeds past its traditional rivals, and OPEC’s next meeting shapes up to be a bruising encounter.

Corona Capital: Nike, Microsoft and retail pain

26 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Bad news for landlords. Nike’s online sales surged during the lockdown even as stores were mostly closed. Meanwhile, Microsoft is shutting most of its retail outlets — for good.

Bad omens for U.S. mall owners come in threes

22 Jun 2020

Brookfield is pushing back on tenants and skipping mortgage payments. Simon Property is ditching its merger with a rival. Both mall owners are suing the Gap for rent and may team up to bid for bankrupt J.C. Penney. Taken together, it looks like landlords are in for a reckoning.

Corona Capital: Carnival, Cheap funds, Salmon

18 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: What lies on the horizon for the cruise operator; locking in cheap financing; and a fishy tale of coronavirus-related swings in demand.

Perfect storm blows Swire Pacific model away

16 Jun 2020

The Hong Kong conglomerate expects big first-half losses in its property, airline and marine services units. Protests, Covid-19 and weak oil demand have taken their toll. The sprawl wasn’t providing much of an edge before disaster struck, however, and warrants reconsideration.

Mall merger dispute could leave both sides losers

10 Jun 2020

Simon Property is backing out of its $3.6 bln purchase of U.S. operator Taubman, saying the seller mishandled Covid-19. Unlike some repentant buyers, Simon says it wants out, not just a better price. Still, this isn’t a vote of confidence in its dealmaking or business model.

Corona Capital: Make infrastructure great again

10 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Brookfield Asset Management CEO Bruce Flatt reckons national and local governments will start getting investors to help finance new roads, bridges and the like. That’s one way to plug deficits wrought by Covid-19.

Europe’s frenzied mall openings hide harsh reality

3 Jun 2020

Shares in landlords like Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Klepierre jumped after they reopened shopping centres. Queues outside IKEA suggest pent-up demand. But fewer shoppers and shorter visits will mean lower retail rents. Investors appear to be pricing in a 50% decline.

West End foray breathes life into UK property M&A

1 Jun 2020

Capco, owner of much of London’s upmarket Covent Garden district, has bought a 26% stake in $2.4 bln Shaftesbury, which manages large swathes of the trendy Soho area. A merger could follow. The risky punt shows UK landlords are starting to think about life after the pandemic.

Corona Capital: Tech diversity, CNN’s middle age

1 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: As big U.S. technology companies’ CEOs speak out about racial inequality, working from home trends could give them a chance to make a real difference; and 24/7 news network CNN feasts on Covid-19 as it turns 40.

IWG war chest burnishes anti-WeWork credentials

28 May 2020

The UK office group raised 320 mln pounds to fund acquisitions. Unlike its troubled rival, IWG has little debt and is expanding when competitors are retrenching. CEO Mark Dixon’s plan still relies on the hope that companies will need as much real estate once the lockdown ends.

Corona Capital: Hockey, HBO, Minority businesses

27 May 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: A plan to get pucks back on the ice offers a sporting template. Meanwhile, HBO’s streaming service may have missed its moment, and a survey shows minority-owned businesses have mixed feelings about life after Covid.

Virus will accelerate European mall king’s decline

11 May 2020

Unibail-Rodamco is facing a cash crunch as retail tenants withhold rent. Although the crisis looks temporary, the accelerated advance of online shopping is an existential threat to the 7 bln euro Westfield owner. Disposals may be the only way to shrink its 24 bln euro debt load.

Offices will get roomier when the virus passes

4 May 2020

Conventional wisdom seems to be that after the pandemic commercial landlords will be crushed as staff stay home. But there’s a counterargument that cooped-up workers will crave interaction, employers will need to space them further apart and put an end to unhealthy hot-desking.

Ritz sale suggests some assets are virus-proof

30 Mar 2020

The high-end London hotel has been sold to an undisclosed Qatari investor for 800 million pounds. While that may not be enough for some members of the feuding family of sellers, it’s what it might have fetched pre-coronavirus. London property remains a safe haven of sorts.