Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Church of England could lose [$35 Mil.] in StuyTown

Never one to kick a Bishopric when it's down.
Ah what the heck, as we said in Sep. '08's "On Leverage, Investment Banks and Incompetence":

"Don't kick a guy when he's down?
Shit, that's the best time."
-a trader to your correspondent, some years ago.

A 50% haircut on a $70 mil. investment. See below for more on the CofE.
From Dealscape:
The list of losers from Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Inc.'s (NYSEBLK) record $5.4 billion purchase of sprawling New York City apartment complex Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village in 2006 is getting longer. With the downturn of the residential real estate market, The Wall Street Journal reports that besides the principal buyers other investors in the deal such as the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., insurance company Hartford Financial Services (NYSE:HIG) and even the Church of England are in danger of losing most or all of their investments. (See full list below.)

Credit rating agency Real Point LLC estimates the property is now worth less than $2.1 billion, less than half of the acquisition price. What's just as frightening is that Tishman and BlackRock burned through nearly $365 million of their reserves since the purchase with now only $33.7 million left to service debt.

Some of the money was spent for legal fees to try to evict existing tenants in an effort to raise rents, but many of the cases have been tossed out of court. The old tenants paying below market prices left the owners far beneath their revenue expectations, which were vital for servicing the debt load. Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) predicted by 2011 net operating income would triple to $336 million from $112 million in 2006. Realpoint LLC says revenue for 2009 only will be $139 million....MORE
The Church has a lot of work to do to get it's spiritual and financial houses in order:
Hedge funds win Church of England blessing (no new comments on 'Bank Robbing Traders')
Archbishop of Canterbury Tells Bankers to Repent
Short-Sellers `Clearly Bank Robbers,' Says Archbishop
Church of England accused of short-selling after its attack on 'bank robbing' traders