Archive | Morgan Stanley

Published: 2 August 2005

US retail real estate trust Simon and a Morgan Stanley arm have agreed to join the Shenzhen state-owned property company in developing shopping centres in China.

They’ve identified 12 so far. Each will have 40-70,00m² on multi-levels, all will have a Wal-Mart anchor and Warner Theatres may also be an anchor.

Simon Property Group, biggest owner, developer & manager of retail real estate in the US, the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds & Szitic Commercial Property Co Ltd, retail property subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned trust & investment firm, Shenzhen International Trust & Investment Co Ltd, signed a co-operation framework agreement to develop the projects. Simon & the Morgan Stanley funds will own 32.5% of the enterprise each and Szitic 35%.

The venture’s first project will be a 46,000m² mall in Hangzhou, population 6 million, 2 hours from Shanghai. Construction is scheduled to start in October with an expected completion date in early 2007.

Simon chief executive David Simon said last week: “We are very excited about the retail development opportunities in China and we believe that being the first US-domiciled reit to enter this critical 21st century market further solidifies our position as one of the world’s pre-eminent retail real estate companies.”

Simon’s taken a lead before – it was one of the first US reits to develop projects in France, Poland & Italy and now has interests in 52 European shopping centres.

If you want to comment on this story, write to the BD Central Discussion forum or send an email to [email protected].

Liberty International plc said overnight it had agreed to sell its 25.5% of Great Portland Estates plc to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds for £123.4 million at 297.5p/share.

Liberty’s aggregate proceeds total £149.3 million, including the return of capital from Great Portland in August.

That return exceeds Liberty’s cost by £29 million, of which it will reflect about £27 million as an exceptional profit.

Liberty said the sale continued its record of profitably engaging in property-related

investment activities alongside its core direct property business, which is

predominantly focused on retail property, particularly prime regional shopping centres.

Great Portland Estates’ portfolio in its “north of Oxford St” section alone is formidable, including 7 properties on Great Portland St.

Earlier story:

25 May 2004: Morgan Stanley consortium wins Canary Wharf battle

Website: Great Portland Estates

Liberty International

Morgan Stanley Real Estate

Morgan Stanley has won the bidding war for Canary Wharf, the 34.4ha of London dockland that was turned into a 2nd financial district with 560,000m² of offices, shops & apartments.

Photo from Canary Wharf Group plc website shows Morgan Stanley’s 45,450m² building at 25 Bank St, which is about half the size of the other new office blocks on Bank St.

The British Takeovers Panel stepped into the battle in April, forcing an auction which ended in Brascan’s defeat after 11 months.

The Morgan Stanley consortium ended with a 295p/share bid for Canary Wharf Group plc, against Brascan Corp’s 275p/share.

Morgan Stanley, valuing Canary Wharf at £4.7-billion, got 60.9% investor support against 19.4% for Brascan.

Canary Wharf opened in 1991. It was developed by the Reichmann brothers of Toronto, but they walked away from the development after a downturn. However Paul Reichmann returned to chair Canary Wharf Group and supported the Brascan bid. He held 8,.9% of the shares @ Brascan 9%.

Website: Canary Wharf Group plc

Earlier story: Daily auction next stage to decide who gets Canary Wharf

Britain’s Takeovers Panel has stepped in to end the prolonged jousting over ownership of Canary Wharf in London.

Silvestor UK Properties Ltd raised its bid for Canary Wharf Group plc last week to 292p/share, compared to CWG Acquisition Ltd’s 275p/share.

The 2 bidders have until Tuesday 13 April to make revised offers. If they’re still competing at that stage, they will enter an auction process of daily bids for the rest of the week. If neither party makes a new or revised bid on any day up to Friday 16 April, the auction process ends.

Depending on the auction process outcome, shareholders will probably decide the winner sometime in May.

CWG Acquisition Ltd is owned by Hermes Pensions Management Ltd (on behalf of the trustees of both the BT pension scheme and Royal Mail Pensions Trustees Ltd), Brascan Corp, British Columbia Investment Management Corp and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

Toronto holding company Brascan owns 9% of Canary Wharf & has the backing of Paul Reichmann, who originally developed Canary Wharf & holds 8.9% of the shares.

Canary Wharf Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.  Its activities focus on high quality office space and retail facilities in London and involve real estate investment & development; real estate sales & rental; and real estate management. Canary Wharf’s UK turnover for the June 2003 year was £250.3 million.

Websites: Canary Wharf Group plc