Archive for April 1st, 2008

Centro Clears a Hurdle

Centro Properties Group, the Australian property trust seeking to refinance A$4.9 billion ($4.5 billion) of debt, had its biggest three-day gain since January in Sydney trading after a unit was released from a $450 million bond guarantee.

Centro Retail Group no longer has to guarantee bonds sold by Centro Properties after the companies met a deadline today to provide “necessary documentation” to the U.S. holders of the notes, the two Melbourne-based trusts said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

“It’s just one minor hurdle they’ve got over the top of, but there’s many more that lie ahead,” said Jamie Spiteri, a senior dealer at Shaw Stockbroking Ltd. in Sydney. “There’s a lot more to be successfully negotiated going forward for Centro.”

Link.

Previous Centro Posts:

FT Says Private Equity Was “Clumsy Trick”

The retail industry was a major target of private equity buyouts. Those deals came to an abrupt halt with the onset of the credit crisis. At least we haven’t seen any $1 billion+ ones. There have been some smaller ones recently.

A big question that remains is Read the rest of this entry »

Turning a Real Mall into a Fake Mall

Simon Property Group’s Burlington Mall is the filming site for the upcoming Adam Sandler/Kevin James Mall Cop movie (not to be confused with the Jude Apatow/Seth Rogen mall cop vehicle called Observe and Report).

An industrious blogger, Phillip A.V. McCarthy snapped some photos of some of the fake storefronts and props at the mall.

Tesco Targeting Russia Too

Not content to focus on its U.S. roll-out, Tesco’s now looking at Russia, according to CB Richard Ellis, X5 Retail Group and MF Global.

Another Commercial Real Estate Blog

If you’re interested in Michigan commercial real estate, check out Square Footage. Also, the blog’s editor B. Candace Beeke will be attending the big spring convention in Vegas.

Here are some of her thoughts going into the convention Read the rest of this entry »

A Good Time for Redevelopment

Companies are slowing the pace of development. Executives at Simon Property Group, for example, during a recent earnings call said the firm was delaying construction on some of its projects because of the weak sales climate. Instead, it seems to be opting to spend on redevelopment.

Simon Property Group Inc. said today that it will have invested $450 million in upgrading and expanding its 20 New England malls when it completes a five-year renovation plan in 2010.

Details of some of those plans have been previously announced, but Simon Property, an Indiana company with a portfolio of 380 shopping centers in North America, Europe, and Asia, including 14 in Massachusetts, hadn’t publicly put a dollar figure on its New England renovations before.

The company said that major renovations are planned for Northshore Mall in Peabody, South Shore Plaza in Braintree, and Burlington Mall – a Nordstrom Inc. department store is set to mark its grand opening at Burlington Mall tomorrow.