Commercial property people

Here is a summary of the news and comment around the commercial property and property finance areas that have caught our attention this week.

New Hammerson chief executive:  John Richards is to retire as chief executive of Hammerson and will be replaced by the property company’s UK managing director David Atkins.  Atkins, 43, will become chief executive from 1 October 2009. He has been with the company for 11 years, and was appointed to the board in 2007.  This news came at the same time as Hammerson reported that losses have doubled in the last 12 months amid declining rents from retailers.

Lloyds suffers from property losses of  HBOS: Lloyds Banking Group said this morning that impairments in its multi-billion pound commercial property book had peaked.  Lloyds said bad debts in the first half of the year rose to £13.4bn, of which £10.7bn came from HBOS – much of it commercial real estate loans.

Warner Estate suffers worst trade in 118 years:  Warner Estate, the property fund manager, said that it was grappling with “possibly the worst year in our 118 year history” as the company reported a loss of more than £60 million and said it was in talks with bankers about a restructuring.

Goodman Group raising equity: The Australian listed property trust, is set to carry out an equity raising of around A$1.5bn (£747m) next week.  The business parks and logistics developer is thought to be close to agreeing a recapitalisation deal with Chinese sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation (CIC), alongside a rights issue.

Jones Lang LaSalle and CBRE: Peter Bill blogged that second quarter figures for Jones Lang LaSalle were  not good; but not quite as bad in revenue terms as CBRE, which announced last week.  At JLL global income fell 13% to $576m in the three months to June compared to the same period last year. At CBRE the fall was 27% to $955m. At both firms, small profits turned into small losses.

Slowdown reducing in construction sector: Signs that life is returning to the struggling construction sector emerged during the week as figures showed that the slowdown in activity eased in July to the slowest pace for sixteen months.  The decline in new orders eased in July, although job losses remained heavy according to the CIPS/Markit Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index, with more than a quarter of businesses axing staff last month.

Nick Leslau: Nick Leslau has invested £245 million into a distressed commercial property portfolio — the first acquisition of its kind since the slump began.  His latest venture is Max Property, the £211 million investment vehicle he set up in May with Mike Brown to exploit opportunities in the downturn.

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