Lots of news to get to, so I’m doing a roundup post. All of these involve buyouts of retailers, either proposed or completed.

• Arby’s Owner Courts Wendy’s.
• Foot Locker is closing stores and is back on the trading block
• Fast Retailing has firmed up its previously announced bid for Barneys
• Lee Equity Partners is Buying Deb Shops for $395M

Update: Jones Apparel has said that the Fast Retailing offer is superior to its previous offer from Istithmar.

Simple RE has an interesting post that includes a roundup of recent indicators that will impact lending on commercial real estate.

Brad Anderson, of Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage, sent me some interesting info on the CMBS market and the impact it is having on Conduit Lenders and borrowers.

* Because of the heavy supply and the weak demand for CMBS by hedge funds and other institutional investors the spreads charged by the conduits to borrowers have soared in the last week. A typical conduit loan on a Self Storage deal is likely to be priced at 180 basis points over the treasury yield. This represents a 50 basis point or one-half percent increase in interest rates to the borrower over the last week. According to Brad there is $58,658.60 MM in CMBS supply hitting the market in the third quarter.

It looks like higher spreads are hear to stay for a while.

From Broadcast Newsroom:

The CEO of Circuit City Stores pitched cable-operator partnerships here, describing the concept stores the retailer is testing in partnership with companies including Comcast and Ethan Allen furniture stores in an effort to provide a more complete customer experience.

Phil Schoonover told the CTAM Summit audience that the multiple truck rolls caused by the average electronics partnership is not good for the consumer or provider. With partnerships, Circuit City associates could sell entertainment and HDTV sources in the store with the hardware and the retailer’s service division, firedog, could provide the installation and help, he added.

Circuit City wants a seamless multiplatform buying experience for consumers, 70% of whom now start their buying experience with research or ordering on the retailer’s Web site, he said.

Concept stores include “The City” in Virginia. Schoonover demonstrated a customer experience where a buyer is approached by a sales associate with a tablet PC. The associate uses the computer to hone in on the buyer’s needs: Which room will house the TV? Where will the hardware be placed? The PC enables the associate to sketch the room, placing furniture and determining what type of TV is best: LCD in Schoonover’s case, due to bright daylight in the room.

It brought us Swedish meatballs, Billy bookshelves and endless queues on the London North Circular on Saturday afternoons. Now Ikea is going one step further and opening the Ikea Hostel, where customers can stay overnight if they haven’t finished their shopping.

Later this month, Ikea Norway will let shoppers sleep overnight in one of its two Oslo warehouses, an operation that will last a week. “It will be like an alternative hostel,” said company spokesman Frode Ullebust.

“There will be the regular dormitory with lots of beds stacked up together. We will also have a bridal suite, with a round bed and a hanging chandelier, and the luxury suite, where customers can enjoy breakfast in bed,” he said. Family rooms will also be available for parents and children to join into the Ikea fun. None of the guests will be charged for their stay.

More at Guardian Unlimited. (Via Boing Boing.

REIT stocks have suffered a massive sell-off for a while. But another indication that what is occurring may be an overreaction is the announcement from Simon Property Group that it has authorized stock buyback program. Under the program, the firm may purchase up to $1 billion in its own stock over the next 24 months. Many REITs are now trading at discounts to underlying net asset value–a condition that has not existed for a while and a strong point in the favor of the argument that the sell-off has been too extreme.

As of mid-day, Simon’s stock was at $86.28 per share, down $1.33, or 1.52 percent. Overall, Simon is down 30.4 percent off its 52-week high and 14.8 percent for the year.

The company is set to announce its second quarter earnings on Monday.

From NREI Online:

Global, direct investment in real estate totaled a record $382 billion during the first half of 2007, a 16.6% increase over the same period last year and more than the entire volume of global investment in 2003, according to provisional figures from Jones Lang LaSalle.

“For the remainder of 2007, Jones Lang LaSalle expects global real estate markets to remain strong, however we expect investors to become increasingly selective about markets,” says Tony Horrell, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle’s European Capital Markets Group. “Globally we continue to see a weight of money targeting the sector — evidenced by the record real estate funds raised by private equity in recent months. Cross border investment remains strong, driven by global, Middle East, North American, Irish, German and Australian funds.”

The Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific achieved record investment volumes in the second quarter, which marked 16 consecutive quarters of global investment growth. In the Americas, total investment surged 32% to $170.7 billion, primarily driven by the trading and re-trading of prime United States properties acquired as a part of private equity led REIT privatizations and subsequent portfolio break-ups. In a notable change from 2006, the majority of prime assets were sold to domestic investors. Overall in the region, however, cross-border investment increased (again). Latin America had a strong half as the market became increasingly sought-after by global, North American and European investors.

Gap Inc. said Thursday it has named Glenn Murphy, the former top executive of Canada’s largest drug store chain, to be the new chairman and chief executive of the troubled clothing retailer.

San Francisco-based Gap had been searching for a new CEO since January when the company jettisoned Paul Pressler following a dismal holiday season that deepened the company’s slumping sales.

Robert Fisher, son of Gap founder Donald Fisher, had served as CEO in the interim. Fisher will stay on the board of directors.

Murphy, 45, whose retail experience spans more than 20 years, most recently served for six years as the chairman and CEO of Shoppers Drug Mart and led that chain through an unprecedented period of growth, Gap said.

More here.

Two more stories about mall curfews. The San Jose Mercury News offers one report. The other comes via The Flint Journal.

The first story talks of the The Shops of River Park. The second is a bit longer and examines a program that has been in use for eight weeks.

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is being asked to consider whether the Genesee Valley shopping center’s weekend curfew discriminates against youths.

“As of now, this is something we are looking into. It is not a formal investigation,” said Harold Core, department spokesman.

The Flint Township mall instituted its Family Friendly Hours @5 Program nearly eight weeks ago in response to complaints about rowdy groups of youths congregating late at the mall on weekends. In January, a melee at the mall among several youths resulted in five arrests.

For previous entries on mall curfews:

• June 29, Another Take on Mall Curfews
• May 25, Monitoring Mallrats
• May 22, Heard on the Floor
• April 25, More on Curfews
• April 5, Everyone’s Noticing Mall Curfews

Retail Traffic also reported on the issue in March.

Several centers in Raleigh, N.C., that had moved to block city buses from driving through their parking lots have backed off from that stance.

The owners of both Brier Creek Commons and Towne North Shopping Center agreed to allow Capital Area Transit Authority Buses at those sites.

Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen said other bus systems, such as Triangle Transit Authority, may eventually have stops at the shopping centers.

“Staff has also opened discussions about long term access for other providers, TTA, and others, and about an on-site transfer station,” he said.

The agreement with Towne North is permanent, while the Brier Creek agreement is tentative. City leaders hope the deal will become permanent by early August.

Previous links on this can be found here and here.

Yesterday I posted about some impacts the sub-prime mortgage meltdown was having on commercial real estate, linking to stories and observations about changes in the CMBS and CDO markets.

Today the New York Times has a blurb talking about how KKR is trying to resist banks attempts to tighten credit.

As the debt markets weaken, making financing buyout deals more expensive for investment banks, Kohlberg Kravis has refused to pay higher interest rates for the bonds and loans that are the lifeblood of those transactions, Reuters said, citing unnamed sources. “If they keep giving it to investment banks, nobody’s going to want to write a commitment letter,” one unnamed banker told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the firm’s prospectus for its initial public offering clearly states that Kohlberg Kravis intends to reduce its reliance on those same banks to finance future transactions.

Kohlberg Kravis declined to comment to Reuters. But sources told Reuters that the company’s belief is that the banks agreed to lend them the money — end of story. It is not the firm’s concern if the banks cannot syndicate the debt.

This is doubly interesting in light of KKR’s rumored interest in Macy’s and because of its plans to follow in Blackstone Group’s footsteps and conduct an IPO later this year.