Archive for the ‘Corporate’ Category

property blog - property news

The centerpiece of an US$8.5-billion (A$9.4 billion) complex intended to redefine the Las Vegas resort experience, opens today with a lavish private party and fireworks.

Thousands of tourists and Las Vegans are expected to pour into the Aria Hotel-Casino after celebrities, moguls and other VIPs mark the official completion of the most expensive private construction project in US history.

Aria is the glass-sheathed Cesar Pelli-designed 4004-room hotel at the heart of CityCenter, a 67-acre complex of hotels, condominiums and retail on the Las Vegas Strip.

“I couldn’t be happier today,” said Pelli, the legendary 83-year-old architect best known for designing the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. “This is the result of all our talents coming together to achieve a great goal.”

Pelli was on hand along with the all-star team of architects who designed five of the other projects at CityCenter including Rafael Vinoly, Daniel Libeskind, David Rockwell and Helmut Jahn.

CityCenter was the brainchild of MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren, who conceived in 2004 the idea of using the company’s large plot of undeveloped land immediately south of the existing Bellagio casino to create a new urban center for sprawling Las Vegas. Read the rest of this entry »

property blog - stockland property news

Stockland Group, Australia’s second-largest property trust, has sold $300 million of February 2015 fixed rate bonds at 270 basis points over swap.

The new bond issue was part of a bond exchange involving the buyback of $175 million in June 2011 notes at 190 bps over swap.

A total of 20 investors, mostly existing bond holders, participated in the exchange, Stockland said. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Institutional Bank arranged the offer.

The buyback allows Stockland to pay down debt at a discount and to extend its weighted average debt maturity to now around 6.3 years, it said.

Analysts expect more listed property trusts (LPTs) to follow suit as borrowing costs have significantly improved this year.

“It don’t see why it would be restricted to LPTs,” said Gus Medeiros, research analyst at Deutsche Bank.

“It just happens that the LPT sector is a major issuer and it’s not surprising that they may be leading this process.”

Stockland is not ruling out another bond exchange.

“It’s always something that we are reviewing and actively managing,” said a company spokeswoman.

source: www.businessspectator.com

Property Blog by Property Buzz

property blog - corporate news

Litigation funding company IMF is set to launch legal action against PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), on behalf of hundreds of investors in the collapsed Centro Properties Group (CNP), The Australian reported.

The extension of funding by the IMF, which is claiming potential damages of more than $1 billion, is based on claims of alleged misleading and deceptive conduct by PwC and PwC Securities.

A move against PwC was flagged in October, as the current and former directors and executives of Australia’s second biggest shopping centre owner, which became one of the first casualties of the global credit crunch, faced fines of $200,000 each.

Centro has sought indemnity from PwC over any losses the group may have to pay investors, according to the paper.

IMF shares had climbed 0.82 per cent to $1.84 at 1034 AEDT against a benchmark index up 0.57 per cent.

source: www.businessspectator.com.au

Property Blog by Property Buzz

property blog - corporate

LITIGATION funder IMF (Australia) will extend existing funding of class action proceedings involving Centro Properties Group and Centro Retail Trust to claims against auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.

IMF last year filed the actions in the Federal Court on behalf of investors of Centro Properties and Centro Retail, a property trust managed by Centro Properties.

These shareholders allege misleading and deceptive conduct by the two companies and breaches of their continuous disclosure obligations between August 7, 2007, and February 15, 2008.

source: www.theaustralian.com.au

Property blog by Property Buzz

HE IS credited with revolutionising the mortgage market in the 1990s and breaking the dominance of the big banks – and now Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris is doing it again.

Mr Bouris has vowed to undercut every big bank with the cheapest fixed and variable-rate home loans on the market amid the launch of his new lender, Yellow Brick Road.

His company is offering a standard variable rate of 6.34 per cent, which would save a borrower with a $300,000 mortgage $80 a month compared with Westpac’s rate of 6.76 per cent.

Mr Bouris said he had spent two years planning the venture and six months negotiating the funding for his loans from Gateway Credit Union.

“I was only going to come back if I could introduce genuine value and competition back to the market,” he said yesterday.

“Almost every product we have is the best in the market. Where we are beaten, it is only by a fraction.” Read the rest of this entry »