RealEstateFlux

Lehman Marks Turning Point for Sellers

One of the more surprising results of the credit crisis to date has been the lack of distressed sales activities. The fundamentals of commercial markets have generally remained in tact, and sellers have been stubborn about getting their price - per their appraisals of 6 months or a year ago. There is good reason to believe [...]

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Lehman Postmortem

The weekend was unkind to Lehman Brothers as the leaders of Wall Street met to consider their fate and a possible buy out of the investment bank and influential commercial real estate player. Yet after Bank of America and Barclays examined Lehman’s books, they balked. There were no other takers. Apparently no bids for Lehman’s [...]

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Lehman’s Vicious Cycle of Write Downs & Capital Raises (Update 2)

A white knight in the form of Korea Development Bank (KDB) has entered the fray to possibly bail Lehman Brothers out of its write down turmoil. Earlier this week it was announced that KDB is in advanced talks to acquire a 25% stake in Lehman for as much as $5.3 billion - reportedly KDB is [...]

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Fannie and Freddie Ratcheting Up Multifamily Lending

Multifamily lending has been a bright spot in the otherwise dismal days of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. One significant debt placement included the Lehman Brothers and Tishman Speyer acquisition of the Archstone portfolio. Fannie and Freddie provided $8.9 billion of senior debt to facilitate the $22 biillion purchase. In spite of the 25% mark [...]

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Lehman Reverses Course on CRE Investment

In a stinging reversal of fortune, Lehman Brothers is now looking to liquidate its commercial real estate holdings. At the height of the market, Lehman teamed with Tishman Speyer to acquire Archstone, a multifamily REIT. According to The Financial Times, Lehman may now need to accept a 25% discount to offload Archstone and raise cash. Bloomberg [...]

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