Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village: "Church of England counts cost of New York property deal"

From the Times of London:

The Church of England has suffered a £40 million loss on a disastrous investment in a New York apartment complex that was acquired by a consortium in 2006 for $5.4 billion — the biggest single residential property deal in the United States.

A spokesman for the Church Commissioners said that it had written off the entire value of its investment and added that the commissioners were “looking carefully” at the lessons to be learnt....MORE
HT: FT Alphaville
See also the January 20 ToL story "MPs want crumbling cathedrals to get Government cash"

Sometimes all you can do is ask "Who are these guys?"
We began our October post "Church of England could lose [$35 Mil.] in StuyTown" by saying:

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.
The disdain came from the Church's sanctimonious condemnation of short selling while at the same time hiring managers who employed the tactic:
...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