Archive for the ‘REITs’ Category

Simon Lines Up More Capital for GGP Bid and Improves Its Proposal

Simon Property Group put out a release last night and another this morning. As we know, Simon execs are meeting with General Growth’s decision makers today.

The first announcement said that Simon had lined up an additional $1.1 billion in capital for its bid by lining up ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, Oak Hill Advisors, RREEF and Taconic Capital Advisors in its corner.

These commitments are in addition to the previously announced $2.5 billion proposed investment by SPG and $1 billion co-investment commitment by Paulson & Co. SPG’s firm, fully financed proposal would be at the same per-share price as the Brookfield-sponsored proposal but without the expensive and highly dilutive equity warrants that GGP proposes to issue to Brookfield, Pershing Square and Fairholme Capital.

David Simon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SPG, said, “We are pleased to announce the addition of these new investors to our proposed GGP recapitalization. This is a highly sophisticated collection of investors with a deep knowledge of the real estate industry. Their participation further underscores the fact that dilutive warrants required by Brookfield, which could cost GGP shareholders $895 million, are unnecessary and unfair to GGP’s current shareholders. We are continuing to have productive discussions with additional parties interested in co-investing in GGP without requiring these costly warrants.”

Mr. Simon continued: “Importantly, our proposed recapitalization would result in a new GGP with less concentrated ownership among a diverse group of investors, including dedicated, real-estate focused institutions with a longer-term investment outlook and who are better positioned to support the future growth of the company.”

In this morning’s announcement, Simon laid out its amended recapitalization offer:

Financially Superior Proposal Without Expensive and Dilutive Warrants

SPG Would Designate Only Two GGP Directors, Waive Numerous Costly Fees Contained in Brookfield Plan and Pay Unsecured Creditors Default or Compound Interest

SPG Proposes Former Ernst & Young Partner Dale Anne Reiss and Wharton Real Estate Professor Peter Linneman as GGP Board Members

Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG) (”SPG”) announced that it has sent a letter to General Growth Properties, Inc. (NYSE: GGP) (”GGP”) outlining improvements and modifications to the terms of SPG’s April 14th proposal to recapitalize GGP. As previously announced, SPG would invest $2.5 billion at the same per share price as the plan of reorganization sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management. To date, Paulson & Co., ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, Oak Hill Advisors, RREEF and Taconic Capital Advisors have committed to invest a combined $2.1 billion in GGP without receiving any of the highly dilutive and expensive warrants that GGP proposes to issue to Brookfield, Pershing Square and Fairholme Capital.

The amended proposal offers significantly higher value and substantially greater certainty to GGP and all of its stakeholders than the transaction proposed by Brookfield. Most notably:

* SPG has agreed to backstop a $1.5 billion credit facility necessary for GGP to close and emerge from bankruptcy, thus eliminating a great risk and uncertainty inherent in the Brookfield-led proposal;

* SPG would agree to limits on its governance rights, including a cap on its voting rights at 20%, the right to designate only 2 of 9 GGP board members (as opposed to the 3 of 9 that Brookfield has nominated). SPG’s proposed nominees, Dale Anne Reiss and Peter Linneman, are both highly respected, have significant experience in the real estate industry and are not affiliated with SPG;

* SPG has agreed to waive a $12.5 million fee that would be levied by Brookfield, Pershing Square and Fairholme Capital for their commitment to backstop the contemplated GGO rights offering; and

* SPG will agree to pay the holders of GGP’s unsecured claims cash equal to the amount of accrued and unpaid pre-petition and post-petition interest at the stated non-default contract rate through the effective date of the plan plus default or compound interest, if any.

Following is the text of the letter sent by SPG to GGP:

April 21, 2010

CONFIDENTIAL

Mr. Adam Metz

Chief Executive Officer

General Growth Properties, Inc.

110 North Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60606

Dear Adam:

This will formally confirm that Simon Property Group remains prepared to participate in the recapitalization of General Growth Properties on the terms we proposed in our letter of April 14th, subject to the improvements and modifications in favor of GGP and its stakeholders which we have discussed with you and your team and which are described in this letter. Our amended proposal delivers significantly higher value and substantially greater certainty of closing to GGP and all of its stakeholders than the transaction proposed by Brookfield Asset Management.

Consideration. Simon would: acquire 250,000,000 shares of common stock in GGP for $2.5 billion in the aggregate, or $10.00 per share; fully backstop the additional 380,000,000 shares of common stock to be issued in the GGP reorganization and recapitalization, also at $10.00 per share, for $3.8 billion in the aggregate, to the extent commitments have not been received from other investors for that capital (as of today, $2.1 billion of such commitments have already been received, and Simon is highly confident of placing all of the contemplated equity capital); fully backstop the $1.5 billion credit facility contemplated to form a part of GGP’s post-recapitalization balance sheet; and fully backstop the GGO rights offering, to the extent not backstopped by identified co-investors.

Warrants. Neither Simon nor any of the other purchasers of GGP equity as part of the recapitalization would receive any warrants or similar up-front payment or fees in respect of their commitment to invest in GGP, either on an interim basis, or as part of the post-reorganization consideration to be issued in respect of these equity investments. As we previously noted, we estimate that by eliminating these warrants, and their dilutive effect, this benefit could be at least $895 million, or $2.75 per share based on today’s share count.

Governance. As you know, in order to avoid the perceived risk of any challenge to the proposed transaction, Simon proposed substantial limits on its governance rights, described in Annex A to our April 14 letter. In response to your request, and in order to even further dispel any concerns, by market participants, regulators or otherwise, regarding GGP’s independence after the consummation of a Simon-led recapitalization, Simon would agree to the revised limits on its governance rights described in Annex A hereto, including a cap on its voting rights at 20%, the right to designate only 2 of 9 members to the GGP board of directors (as contrasted with the 3 of 9 that Brookfield would have the right to nominate pursuant to its proposal), and the requirement that any such nominees be independent and not affiliated with Simon. In fact, our 2 proposed directors are Dale Anne Reiss, former Senior Partner and Global Americas Director with Ernst & Young, LLP, and Peter Linneman, Professor of Real Estate, Finance and Public Policy at the Wharton School of Business. Both are distinguished professionals with substantial real estate expertise who are not affiliated with Simon.

In this regard, it is not Simon’s intent to gain control of GGP pursuant to the backstop obligations it is undertaking so as to provide certainty to GGP and assure a robust post-recapitalization capital structure, and, as set forth on the revised Annex A attached, Simon would agree to dispose of any interest in GGP in excess of 45%, regardless of any other requirement to do so, and to in any event dispose of any interest in GGP in order to satisfy any applicable regulatory authority, or avoid or lift any injunction, and accordingly to provide GGP with great certainty as to closing and equally great certainty as to its ability to operate independently and be perceived as doing so by the market and all of its constituencies.

Co-Investors As of the date of this letter, Simon has received commitment letters from Paulson & Co., Taconic Capital, ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, Oak Hill Advisors and RREEF who are together interested in co-investing, in the aggregate, at least $2.1 billion in equity in connection with a Simon sponsored recapitalization of GGP, discussions with other potential sources of capital are ongoing, and Simon is highly confident of placing all of the contemplated equity capital. As noted, to the extent that Simon does not find replacements for the full amount of the Pershing Square and Fairholme commitments, Simon will fully backstop the entire amount of such co-investment commitments, without any warrants, as well as backstopping an additional $125 million investment in GGO as Pershing Square and Fairholme are currently contemplated to do.

As noted, GGP would not be expected or required to issue any warrants or incur any up-front commitment or other similar payments or fees in respect of the Simon, Paulson or other commitments to support the GGP recapitalization. Moreover, the Paulson and other co-investor equity commitments would be subject to claw-back reduction or cancellation by GGP on the same terms as are those of the existing Pershing Square and Fairholme commitments, subject only to the payment of a modest cancellation fee on any unused commitments of the equity co-investors other than Paulson.

Additionally, although the Brookfield proposal would prohibit GGP, at closing, from having any five investors (other than Brookfield, Pershing Square and Fairholme) who together owned 30% of GGP’s common stock, Simon has agreed to lower this limit from five to four, permitting GGP greater flexibility in seeking additional investors in its recapitalization.

$1.5 Billion Debt Incurrence. Under the Brookfield proposal, GGP must incur an additional $1.5 billion of new, unsecured corporate debt in order to close and emerge from bankruptcy. We understand that GGP has not yet obtained this new debt. Simon will eliminate the risk with respect to this $1.5 billion of capital, and the contingency the requirement to raise it imposes on the Brookfield-sponsored recapitalization, by agreeing to backstop the entire amount, on mutually agreeable market terms. Simon will also provide full assistance to GGP in helping arrange this facility, to the extent GGP so requests.

Closing Certainty. As a condition to its obligation to consummate its investment, Simon would require GGP to have a minimum liquidity of only $350 million, and a maximum aggregate indebtedness of $22.25 billion, in each case as you have requested as a variation from the terms of the Brookfield transaction. This provides GGP with $300 million more liquidity flexibility – and therefore greater certainty of closing – than the more stringent standards insisted upon by Brookfield (minimum liquidity of $500 million and maximum aggregate indebtedness of $22.1 billion).

Further, with respect to the GGO spin-off, Simon would agree to delete the concept of “Essential Assets,” thereby providing GGP with greater latitude in structuring the GGO spin-off and eliminating any risk that a delay in the formation of GGO and the transfer of assets to it will jeopardize the closing of the entire GGP recapitalization or allow any party the opportunity to renegotiate the terms of its investment.

Preemptive Rights. Brookfield would have preemptive rights with respect to issuances of stock by either GGP or GGO so long as it is a 5% or greater holder in the respective entity. Simon will agree to limit its preemptive rights in GGP, such that they would only apply for so long as Simon holds a 15% or greater interest in GGP.

GGO Backstop Fee. Brookfield, Pershing Square and Fairholme propose to receive an aggregate of $12.5 million, payable in GGO shares, as a fee for their commitment to backstop the contemplated GGO rights offering. Simon and its co-investors will waive this fee.

Default and Compound Interest. Simon will agree to pay the holders of unsecured claims in GGP cash in the amount equal to the amount of accrued and unpaid prepetition interest and postpetition interest at the stated non-default contract rate through the effective date of the plan plus default or compound interest, if any, as reflected in the Plan Summary Term Sheet attached to our proposed form of Investment Agreement. The Brookfield proposal would not provide unsecured creditors with any recovery for the amount of their claims with respect to default or compound interest.

No Financing or Other Contingencies. As in our initial proposal, there will be no financing condition whatsoever to Simon’s obligations to close the transaction. As you know, Simon has an equity market capitalization in excess of $27 billion, $3.5 billion of available cash on its balance sheet, and $3.3 billion of available borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facility. Simon would be fully and immediately responsible for its commitment and backstop obligations. Simon’s investment would not be contingent on any vote of Simon shareholders.

Improvement to Brookfield Terms. Except as specified herein, the terms of Simon’s formal binding contractual commitment to invest in GGP would be substantially identical to Brookfield’s obligations pursuant to the Brookfield Investment Agreement and the other agreements contemplated thereby. Our proposed form of Investment Agreement, reflecting the revised proposal described above (and including the Plan Summary Term Sheet, also revised to reflect the improvements to our proposal described in this letter), and which we are prepared to enter into immediately, is being forwarded separately by our counsel to your counsel, together with a comparison to the form of agreement we provided to you on April 14 and copies of the additional commitment letters we have received from Taconic Capital, ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, Oak Hill Advisors and RREEF.

We look forward to speaking to you on Thursday and to continuing our work towards an agreement.

Very truly yours,

David Simon

Chairman of the Board and

Chief Executive Officer

cc: Board of Directors, General Growth Properties, Inc.

Official Committee of Equity Security Holders

Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors

Jackson Hsieh, UBS Investment Bank

Antitrust Protections

The U.S. antitrust authorities have consistently recognized that the retail real estate industry is highly competitive and fragmented. It is one of the only industries exempted from the notification and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Furthermore, the federal antitrust agencies and the courts have repeatedly indicated that there is no separate relevant product market for shopping malls. Rather, a properly defined relevant market would include all retail real estate.

According to recent estimates, there are over 100,000 shopping centers of all kinds in the U.S. containing approximately 7 billion square feet. Moreover, in addition to the wide variety of physical stores, e-commerce websites and mail order catalogs have become established and powerful retail outlets. Only a small fraction of U.S. retail sales are conducted in properties owned by SPG and GGP.

SPG strongly believes that its proposal to take a passive minority stake, with numerous procedural and governance safeguards, and together with a group of highly sophisticated, experienced and independent investors, does not pose any concern for the stakeholders of GGP.

Specifically, Simon’s acquisition of a 20% voting interest / 25% economic interest in GGP and the right to designate 2 of 9 members to the GGP board with independent directors, unaffiliated with Simon, will be subject to substantial limitations and restrictions. Among other things:

* GGP will remain a separate company, with its own management and board, and a majority of independent board members. All leasing decisions will be made at the property/operating company level, and Simon will not directly or indirectly try to influence them.
* The Simon designated GGP board members will not be affiliated with Simon and their service on the GGP board would be consistent with applicable antitrust laws and other rules.
* Simon designated GGP board members shall not be allowed to cast a vote on any capital investment, acquisition or divestiture decision of GGP that relates to mall/lifestyle center properties that are within the trade area of a mall/lifestyle center that Simon manages or has an interest in.

To the extent that Simon acquires in excess of the 45% interest of GGP in order to fulfill the investment currently contemplated to be provided by Pershing Square and Fairholme, Simon will sell or distribute the excess interests, or to put the excess interests into a trust with the following terms and conditions, among others:

* The excess interests would be nonvoting pending disposition.
* The trustee would be instructed to sell the excess interests, either as a block or in a series of sales, at such time and under such conditions as to ensure that the divestitures do not adversely affect GGP or its ability to raise capital.
* The trustee would not be a director, officer, manager, agent or employee of Simon and would expressly have no fiduciary duty to Simon other than to carry forth the purposes of the trust agreement.

SPG would also sell, distribute or put into a trust additional GGP shares to the extent required by regulatory authorities.

Simon to Meet GGP Board; Tips on Using Social Media (Wednesday’s News & Notes)

Activity is heating up again on the Simon/General Growth Properties front, as the industry looks into Simon’s revised plan for General Growth’s reorganization. Meanwhile, the reporters at The Boston Globe do an inspired bit of freakonomics in their tracking of Staples-sold pens as a leading economic indicator. For this and other stories about retail and retail real estate, follow the links below:

  • Simon will present its revised reorganization plan to the General Growth board of directors tomorrow, according to Chicago Real Estate Daily.
  • General Growth investor Bruce Berkowitz says Simon’s offer still doesn’t make sense as it will give Simon too much power over tenants, reports Business Week.
  • Here, investor Todd Sullivan, of Valueplays.net, offers his view on the bid.
  • Calculated Risk reports that American Institute of Architects’ Billings Index, a leading measure of investment in commercial real estate, continued to contract in March.
  • Department store chain J.C. Penney plans to grow sales in next three years by focusing on apparel, accessories and home goods, according to the Dallas News.
  • The Boston Globe reports that Staples has been selling more rollerball pens in recent months, a possible sign the economy is improving.
  • Benjamin Property Group offers shopping centers owners tips on effective use of social media.

The Rise of Marketwi.se; (Tuesday’s News & Notes)

Last week, John Reeder, a Senior Advisor at Sperry Van Ness, launched a new blog, Marketwi.se. It includes insights from Reeder as well as Chris Rodriguez, founder and president of Pacific Commercial Investments Inc.

Both have been blogging for a while and are worth reading for their insights alone. But in addition to their frequent commentaries, Reeder has developed a couple of other really nifty features at the blog. One is a Superfeed that aggregates RSS feeds from a ton of different commercial real estate news sources (including, of course, Retail Traffic). That in itself is a great tool. But there’s also a CRE Twitter aggregator. What makes that piece so useful is that it isn’t just a a relentless stream of whatever CRE folks are tweeting. Instead, it highlights items that multiple people within the industry are tweeting about. In other words, it shines a light on stories or blogs or sites that are generating the most buzz among the commercial real estate Twitterverse.

At any rate, don’t take my word for it, go over to Marketwi.se and check out these features for yourself.

Here are some other recent news and notes from the retail real estate world.

  • Now that Simon Property Group has amended its offer for General Growth, the Chicago-based REIT has gone back to Brookfield Asset Management to see if the Canadian real estate giant will change its offer by upping its price and seeking fewer warrants.
  • Healthy retailers looking for premium space are having a hard time finding it, even with the high vacancy rates at shopping centers and regional malls. The situation is such that Richard Baker, chief executive officer of NRDC Equity Partners LLC, which owns Lord & Taylor, described his firm’s plight as “We wait for other retailers to die and hope that we can take their space.”
  • One firm that’s not having trouble finding space, however, is Best Buy. The firm is planning to open 1,000 mobile stores in the coming years. It currently operates 77 such stores in the U.S. and wants to open 75 to 100 locations this year alone.
  • On the research front, our sister publication NREI reported that investment research firm Morningstar announced that it has agreed to acquire Realpoint LLC, headquartered in Horsham, Pa., which specializes in structured finance data.

RBS Releases Details on 2010’s First Conduit Deal; DLC Goes Public (Wednesday’s News & Notes)

Industry insiders have known about it for a while, but this week the Royal Bank of Scotland revealed the exact details of its multi-borrower CMBS deal, the first of its kind since 2007. Meanwhile, in the wake of strong same-store sales growth in March, Mickey Drexler, head of J.Crew and former top level executive with the Gap, cautioned that March numbers don’t mean consumer demand is back to pre-recession levels. For this and other stories about retail and retail real estate, follow the links below.

Simon Amends its Offer to GGP

Updated at 10:28 AM

That didn’t take long. After all the “Will they or won’t they?” speculation surrounding Simon Property Group’s bid for General Growth Properties that’s been circulating around the last couple of days, the REIT has made its intentions clear.

Simon now wants to supplant Brookfield’s place in GGP’s recapitalization. It claims its offer is superior to Brookfield’s for several reasons including that it would not seek any warrants. It would also agree to limits on its governance rights. It says it would welcome working with Fairholme and Pershing Square if those investors too would forego any claims on warrants.

The other nugget here is that Paulson & Co. has officially entered the fray as it is willing to provide a $1 billion co-investment as part of Simon’s offer.

However, at the end of the letter, Simon does add that, “If you are interested, we remain prepared to discuss with you instead an acquisition of GGP in a fully-financed transaction.”

Update: The Wall Street Journal does a good job explaining the implications of dropping the warrants.

Thus, the Simon offer is a gamble that the Brookfield group will walk away from the deal absent the warrants.

The warrants are critical because they represent a significant cost for any acquirer of General Growth later in the process. The warrants are guaranteed to the Brookfield group if U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper grants the Brookfield bid “stalking horse” status, making it the bid that others must top. He is slated to make that determination at an April 29 hearing.

Thereafter, any company that subsequently buys General Growth and unseats the Brookfield group must pay an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars to retire the warrants.

Simon’s representatives have said Simon is unlikely to continue to participate in the bidding process if the Brookfield group, rather than Simon, wins the stalking-horse designation.

Here’s the text of Simon’s release. Read the rest of this entry »

Is This the End of the Road for Simon’s GGP Bid?

According to the Wall Street Journal, talks between Simon and General Growth have reached an impasse.

Potential antitrust concerns are the issue. The parties think that if a deal went through, Simon would need to divest itself of some of GGP’s assets. But there’s disagreement over what percentage of the assets Simon would have to sell. Moreover, Simon would not want to sell any of General Growth’s top assets. For its part, General Growth is saying that Simon may need to consider divesting a larger percentage of the portfolio.

Simon had offered in recent days to commit to divesting up to 10 million square feet, amounting to roughly 25 to 30 malls, if the Federal Trade Commission requires such action in its antitrust review of any Simon-General Growth combination, these people say. But Simon wants to be able to walk away from the deal if the malls it is required to sell average annual sales of $450 square feet or more. The industry average is roughly $300.

General Growth’s lawyers responded that Simon needs to be prepared to divest more than 10 million square feet, but they didn’t specify how much more.

As a result, opinions on whether the talks between the two firms will continue seem to depend on who you ask.

A report from industry newsletter REIT Newshound that was picked up by other news outlets indicated that Simon is thinking of abandoning its bid. Yet a separate report later in the day by Reuters quoted sources saying that Simon is looking at ways to revise its bid.

The Journal’s story came next and says merely that Simon is “pondering” its options.

So is this the end of the road for Simon’s bid?

Loehmann’s in Trouble; More Retail M&A Deals Expected This Year (Tuesday’s News & Notes)

Private equity deals have a checkered history in the retail sector, often resulting in bankruptcies and liquidations, but they are undoubtedly a sign that retail is on the upswing. Now, after several years of a deal draught, market researchers expect M&A activity to come back, as many chains look for additional sources of capital. For this and other stories about retail and retail real estate, follow the links below:

Gymboree Plans More Stores; FDIC to Auction $1B in Assets (Friday’s News & Notes)

While many retailers continue to struggle with lackluster sales, at least we’ve come to a point where some are thinking about expansion. Children’s apparel seller Gymboree, for instance, has doubled the number of stores planned for its new off-shoot Crazy 8. Meanwhile, the FDIC is doing its best to deal with bad assets on banks’ balance sheets: the agency plans to auction off $1 billion in residential and commercial properties, though the banks are not happy about it. For more on this and other news about retail and retail real estate, follow the links below:

  • Our sister publication NREI looks at FDIC’s efforts to work with the banks to resolve bad CRE loans.
  • The situation continues to cause concern in the banking industry, reports DS News.com.
  • Gymboree plans to open up to 100 Crazy 8 stores in 2010, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
  • Borders is about to close on financing to pay down a Pershing Square loan, according to Bloomberg.
  • Microsoft gets ready to open more stores, reports ZDNet.
  • The Los Angeles Times reports that American Apparel CEO Dov Charney disagrees with analysts’ assessment of the chain’s performance.
  • Swoozie’s, an Atlanta-based chain with 43 locations, is going out of business, according to the Nashville Business Journal.
  • A story in the San Francisco Chronicle says that luxury consumers are beginning to spend again.

GGP Seeks Court Approval of Reorg

This had been teased over the weekend and General Growth has now filed the papers to seek approval of the proposed plan to recapitalize and split the company. The text of the motion is here.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has a nice analysis of the offer and what it means in the broader struggle over General Growth’s future.

The offer will be available to General Growth through year end if the Brookfield-led team is granted “stalking horse” status by a bankruptcy judge at an April 28 hearing, meaning the Brookfield offer would be the one other bids must beat, people familiar with the matter said.

That means General Growth still could pursue a competing offer prior to Dec. 31. If the rival bid doesn’t pan out, General Growth then could return to the Brookfield offer on the same terms, these people say.

If Simon opts to sweeten its bid, it must do so within the next three weeks to be considered before the April 28 court hearing, people familiar with Simon’s strategy say.

Aside from the Dec. 31 deadline, the documents outlining the Brookfield-led offer include no significant changes from the general terms disclosed earlier this month. Brookfield has pledged to provide $2.6 billion and Pershing and Fairholme a combined $3.9 billion to help General Growth. The mall owner would use that money to eliminate much of its $7 billion of unsecured debt and finance its emergence from bankruptcy.

In return, Brookfield, Pershing and Fairholme would collectively receive 630 million General Growth shares, or roughly 66% of the company’s shares outstanding upon its exit from bankruptcy, not counting warrants that would be granted to the trio.

If the judge approves the Brookfield offer as the stalking horse, the Brookfield team also would receive 120 million warrants—60 million for Brookfield and 60 million for Fairholme and Pershing—allowing them to buy General Growth stock at $15 a share.

Text of General Growth’s release below: Read the rest of this entry »

New Players Emerge in General Growth Saga; Lampert is Stuck with Sears (Thursday New & Notes)

It’s largely been a slow week on the retail real estate front. But today did bring with it a development in the General Growth bankruptcy. It seems that the interested parties are waiting for more details from General Growth before reevaluating any offers. Moreover, new parties are in the mix–Elliott Management Corp. and Paulson & Co. They both might be willing to help fund General Growth’s exit from bankruptcy. But it appears that Simon may also be courting Elliot to join its bid. The intrigue builds.

Here are some other news and notes.

  • Bloomberg looked at how Eddie Lampert’s bet on Sears isn’t working out so well since he’s now stuck owning the retailer and its real estate in an economy where consumer spending is down and real estate values have dropped precipitously.
  • Our sister publication NREI has up a new podcast with John B. Levy that examines the state of lending on commercial real estate.
  • The AIA billings index showed work contracting in February, although the reading was up from January.
  • Zale is considering a proposal from Sun Capital Partners, according to the New York Post.
  • Lastly, Target Corp. lost a bid to avoid a lawsuit over its role in the sale of the Mervyn’s department-store chain, according to the Wall Street Journal. It may now face claims from creditors to chain, which was liquidated.