(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 12/3/14)
Going Chic With Boutique
Veteran financier Henry Silverman is making his first big bet on
a boutique hotel company.
The former executive at Apollo Global Management and Guggenheim
Partners is forming a partnership with SBE Entertainment Group, a
Los Angeles firm that owns and operates hotels, restaurants and
nightclubs.
The partnership will be with Mr. Silverman's new firm, Cain Hoy
Enterprises, which launched in September.
Cain Hoy is forming an investment vehicle with SBE that will
acquire and develop properties for SBE's new hotels and other
businesses. Mr. Silverman's firm has earmarked $500 million for the
venture, though that figure could rise over time, Cain Hoy
says.
Sam Nazarian, SBE's founder, says that the investment
partnership will allow his firm, which currently owns or operates
six lifestyle or luxury hotels, to scale up quickly.
"This will be permanent capital that could stay for multiple
decades" as opposed to private-equity firms that need to sell every
few years, he says.
-- Craig Karmin
Prognosis for Merger: Good
Health-care property owner Ventas Inc. isn't letting investor
Nicholas Schorsch's troubles get in the way of deal making.
Ventas this week said it had scrubbed the books of a smaller
rival, and assured investors that a $2.9 billion acquisition
announced earlier this year still is set to close in January
without issue. In June, Ventas agreed to acquire American Realty
Capital Healthcare Trust, a company controlled by Mr. Schorsch
that, like Ventas, owns senior housing and care facilities and
medical-office buildings.
In October, however, another company controlled by Mr. Schorsch,
American Realty Capital Properties Inc., disclosed accounting
irregularities that led to the resignations of two top executives
and resulted in the loss of more than $3 billion in market value.
The accounting issues also led to at least one merger being
scuttled.
In a securities filing Monday night, Ventas said the issues at
Mr. Schorsch's other companies wouldn't affect its deal.
Ventas declined to comment. American Realty Capital Properties
and Mr. Schorsch have declined to comment since the accounting
issues came to light.
-- Robbie Whelan
New York over Nashville
Commercial-property prices have been rising ever-higher in New
York and London, with buyers accepting paltry rental incomes in
exchange to get into top-notch cities.
That is no reason to shy away, says a new report by real-estate
services firm DTZ's research arm.
The investment outlook, aimed broadly at DTZ's clients including
large-scale Asian investors and others with substantial holdings
looking to break into global real estate, ranks Manhattan and
London the top two markets for places to invest in commercial
property globally this year. They were followed by Washington,
Chicago and San Francisco.
One major reason: Despite the high prices, both New York and
London are considered highly liquid markets, making it easy to buy
and sell anytime.
-- Eliot Brown
Access Investor Kit for American Realty Capital Properties,
Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US02917T1043
Access Investor Kit for Ventas, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US92276F1003
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