The Loan Committee™

Last May, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) paid roughly $800 million for a majority interest in LCOR, an investment, management and development firm whose portfolio includes 7,400 multifamily units, 7.7 million sq. ft. of commercial space and multiple development projects. In June, the California State Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) plunked down $100 million for one-third of Bentall Kennedy, a real estate investment advisor with $8.4 billion in U.S. assets under management. And in December, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) agreed to pay $250 million for a 49 percent equity stake in a high-rise apartment tower at 8 Spruce Street, in downtown Manhattan, and put down another $551 million for a 70 percent stake in MiMA, a luxury mixed-use complex at West 42nd Street.  read entire article…  Author:  Elaine Misonzhnik, Senior Associate Editor.  Source:  National Real Estate Investor.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) began February by visiting Capitol Hill to argue that community banks should be exempted from many of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law’s new regulations. ICBA’s vice president of mortgage finance policy, ended the month by writing a comment letter asking that final mortgage rules the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued be adjusted to avoid leaving many consumers without access to mortgage credit. While acknowledging that the ICBA is generally pleased that the final rule provides some flexibility for community banks to continue to offer mortgage loans – including balloon mortgages – to the consumers in their communities, Haynie wrote that concern remained that the exemptions and exceptions would cover far too few community banks.  read entire article…  Author:  Not Listed.  Source:  TriNovus.

Legislation introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., would impose a 0.03% tax beginning in 2014 on non-consumer financial trading, including stocks, bonds and other debts after their initial issuance, and would include derivative contracts, options, puts, forward contracts and swaps. The backers say the law would discourage speculative and high-speed trading and raise as much as $352 billion over 10 years, according to estimates for a similar proposal floated in the last Congress. read entire article… Author:  Hazel Bradford.  Source:  Pensions & Investments.

The rally in commercial mortgage bonds since mid-2012 has paved the way for a brisk start for issuance this year and sweetened terms for borrowers.  A trio of Wall Street dealers this week plan to sell $600 million of commercial mortgage-backed securities based on a 12-year, interest-only loan on part of the 968,000 square foot Queens Center mall in New York, according to a term sheet.  read entire article….  Author:  Al Yoon; Source:  The Wall Street Journal.

It is clear to see that REITs today are benefiting from historically low interest rates and that has fueled their growth over the past several years. This growth has also resulted in general improvement in payout ratios, dividends paid, and financial positions across most of the spectrum of REITs.  read entire article…  Author:  Brad Thomas.  Source:  Seeking Alpha.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has rejected a request by U.S. Century Bank and proposed acquirer C1 Bank for a 90 percent discount on repaying taxpayer funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), according to documents obtained by the Business Journal.  That amount of a discount would have been a record setter for TARP repayments by a bank that didn’t fail. read entire article… Author:  Brian Bandell, Source:  South Florida Business Journal

As private equity interest in the restaurant sector has revved up, so too has the practice of firms hiring those executives who have worked in the trenches and know the ins and outs of the food service business.
Not only can restaurant industry veterans bring their operational expertise to assessing investment opportunities, but they also have long relationships that can help in luring top talent to future management teams and industry insight that can translate to a healthy pipeline of deals.  Read entire article…  Author:  Robin Lee Allen, Source:  Nation’s Restaurant News

Corporate end users of OTC derivatives most commonly trade the financial instruments to manage their balance sheet liabilities and cash flows, in addition to hedging interest rate and exchange rate risks. Interest rate derivatives comprise approximately 80% of all OTC derivative transactions, with FX derivatives billed as the second largest category.  read entire article…  Author:  Daniel Flatt, Source:  The Corporate Treasurer