- New SPAC to Target Real Estate Startups “A new blank check company is entering the SPAC space, setting its sights on financial software startups focused on mortgage and real estate. Southport Acquisition Corp. priced an initial public offering on Friday. Inman reported the company is offering 20 million units at $10 each, hoping to raise more than $234 million; that’s dependent on BofA Securities exercising a 45-day option to purchase an additional 3 million units.” (The Real Deal)
- Why Return to Office Headlines Don’t Reflect the Messy Reality “Google on Thursday told staffers that the company will not be fully returning to offices in early January, after all. It will wait until 2022 to assess when workers will head back to a ‘stable, long-term working environment.’ But many Googlers have been back for months, of course. Future-of-work is one of those subjects that initially generated a sense of pandemic unity -- staffs working together to complete a sudden shift to remote production -- but now stirs division. I think we're starting to see divides between rival companies too, with some emphasizing an in-person work experience and others promoting more flexibility for staffers.” (CNN Business)
- Parsing the Conflicting Data on Office Tours “Cushman & Wakefield has waded into the debate about office tour activity and what it foretells for this asset class in a recent brief. There are a number of different data points on this metric, with each provider interpreting the meaning differently. Let’s start with C&W. It found that tour activity was on the rise this spring, nearly tripling in the first quarter and continuing through August. But in September, tours declined, which Cushman experts say is in line with historical seasonal trends from 2018 and 2019.” (GlobeSt.com)
- KBRA Acquired by Private Equity Firm in $900M Deal “Eleven years after its founding in the wake of the global financial crisis, Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has struck a deal to be acquired by private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners, the company announced Monday. Boston-based Parthenon closed the roughly $900 million transaction to buy a majority stake in the global rating agency last Friday. The KBRA name will remain the same.” (Commercial Observer)
- Corner Stores Are the New Darlings of the Global Tech Industry “Over the past few years, dozens of start-ups flush with more than $1 billion from investors have sprung up to turn mom-and-pop stores into digital retailers and mini–tech hubs. In Egypt, merchants can now restock their shelves using an app; in Nigeria, shops now function as pseudo-banks; and in China, consumers can now pick up online grocery orders from corner stores. Major corporations and even Jeff Bezos are in on the craze—the Amazon founder recently invested in Ula, an Indonesian start-up that has signed up more than 70,000 retailers to its inventory-ordering platform.” (The Atlantic)
- Macklowe Sues Qatari Ex-Partner for Millions in Broker Fees “Macklowe Properties, a former manager of the retail condo at 432 Park Ave., a building it helped develop, is suing its ex-partner at the space for $3.3 million in unpaid leasing fees, according to a lawsuit filed recently in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. The real estate investment firm was responsible for securing a lease with auction house Phillips de Pury at the 71,000 square-foot retail space for which it never received its cut, according to the complaint.” (Crain’s New York Business)
- California May Cut Rooftop Solar Incentives as Market Booms “California’s 26-year-old program to get more people to put solar panels on their homes has been wildly successful, but state regulators may reduce the incentives for people to go solar in a bid to reduce electricity bills for the rest of residents in the most populous U.S. state. Current incentives allow residential solar customers to sell whatever energy they don’t use back to power companies at the retail rate for power, usually resulting in a big discount on their energy bills.” (The Associated Press)
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