malach hamovess

How About Sears Holdings as a REIT?

sears as a reit would have sears and kmart stores as the primary tenants. these stores have been doing horribly and are probably losing money now. thus, a reit based on the sears real estate might be worth a lot less than presented above.

a top retailer - target - was evaluated for splitting off the r/e; even with great leases, the parts are not going to be greater than the whole, particularly when as in sears' case, the retail segment is pure drek

The Impact of General Growth's Bankruptcy on Commercial Real Estate

SPG raised a half-billion in 10 yr debt and a similar amount of equity; the effect was to make it healthy. It has since responded with a 30 percent increase in market price for the common, and the bonds are currently trading to yield 1/2 percent less than at their issuance.
Sure, it could start a buying program for GGP's properties, but why bother. It has plenty of room in its own portfolio to maximize value, and GGP's malls have similar characteristics. Moreover, they both have tons of department store anchors, and as we know, the dep't stores were all downgraded last week by S&P. Each of the major national mall anchors - Macy's, Penney's, Sears - has a soft credit rating and all are subject to weakening results unless consumer spending really picks up.
Simon has been reasonably conservative in the financing over the past few years; they have no reason to change now.

Why Federal Realty Looks Interesting

reits with greater upside have been really beaten down by the freeze in credit. if you're buying a reit for the steady income right now, you'd probably be better off buying the quality bonds of a bigger reit - like simon; if you're buying for a rebound in the sector to be fueled by a return of retailing and/or a freeing of the credit markets, you might consider one of their more leveraged peers that's been beaten down - Kimco, Weingarten, or even DDR

General Growth Properties: Commentary from Ackman and Zell

at 60 cents a share, the bet is a payoff of 10-20 to 1.

if you want to bet with ackman, you can put some money down; it saves the traffic on the road to Atlantic City

General Growth's Offer Provides Further Asset Value Clarity

the subject props are pure urban locations - presumably worth a lot more on a sq ft basis than the multitude of suburban and exurban malls with far lower per sq ft values.

inferring about a prop in Kansas from an offer for the SoSt Seaport is a bit of a stretch.

Things Not All That Bad at General Growth Properties

sure they have great properties; but unless you can unfreeze the credit markets, a bankruptcy will result in the entire portfolio going to the unsecured creditors except to the extent that they can't roll specific mortgages; those properties will be owned by the groups of cmbs investors.

all of thise was avoidable if prior mangement weren't so irresponsible and had addressed the maturity issue back in the summer of 07 when credit markets started showing stress.

thanks, bernie!!