DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Blackstone gets a slap from efficient markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Private markets seemed, for a while, the perfect antidote to the weirdness of public markets. Those models typically move much more slowly than the rapidly changing prices served up by public markets. These charms became much more potent during the stresses of Covid-19, when it became clear that public markets are not always a ruthlessly efficient price-discovery mechanism. RESILIENCE OR INTRANSIGENCECovid briefly scrambled the world, but bigger changes are coming that may scramble the calculus for private markets. During Covid, public markets seemed backward-looking, overreacting to the present moment while private markets were able to focus on the future.

☆ How and where to use your travel points for a ski vacation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Jennifer Yellin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +23 min

Marriott Bonvoy ski vacation hotelsOf the three major hotel chains in the US, Marriott has the largest number of properties catered toward ski vacations. Points required: A Category 7 property, requiring 25,000 to 35,000 World of Hyatt points per night. Points required: A Category 6 property, requiring 21,000 to 29,000 World of Hyatt points per night. Points required: A Category 7 property, requiring 25,000 to 35,000 World of Hyatt points per night. Points required: A Category 6 property, requiring From 21,000 to 29,000 World of Hyatt points per night.

☆ More than 70% of voters in poll want Biden to release secret JFK assassination records
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, first postponed the disclosure in 2017, when the records were supposed to be fully released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. Half of voters believe the assassination involved multiple conspirators while 38 percent said Oswald was the lone gunman, the poll showed. The CIA has played a central role in covering up information about the JFK assassination over the years. Immediately after JFK’s assassination, Oswald was identified as a pro-Castro sympathizer, thanks to news articles and documentation that arose when he came into contact with Joannides' group. And they relate to covert programs in which George Joannides was involved,” Morley said in an interview.

☆ Investors Yank Money From Commercial-Property Funds, Pressuring Real-Estate Values
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Konrad Putzier | Peter Grant | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some investors in Blackstone’s flagship real-estate fund won’t be able to cash out before next year. Big and small investors are queuing up to pull money out of real-estate funds, the latest sign that the surge in interest rates is threatening to upend the commercial-property sector. Blackstone Inc. last week said it would limit the amount of money investors could withdraw from its $69 billion flagship real-estate fund following a surge in redemption requests. Starwood Capital Group shortly after notified investors that it was also restricting withdrawals in a $14.6 billion fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.

☆ Jiang Zemin: China's Xi calls for unity at former president's memorial service
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Hong Kong CNN —China’s Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on the country to unite around his leadership as he addressed a memorial service for former leader Jiang Zemin, following an unprecedented show of dissent over his zero-Covid policy and authoritarian rule. At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi led hundreds of China’s political and military elites to pay final tribute to Jiang, who died last Wednesday at the age of 96. Chinese leader Xi Jinping leads other officials to bow during a formal memorial for late former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in Beijing on December 6, 2022. Coming to power in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, Jiang led China out of international isolation and guided its integration into the global market. On Tuesday, in his first public speech since the protests, Xi praised Jiang for ensuring the party’s survival from the “political storms” of his time.

☆ Blackstone’s Property Bets Are Getting Shakier
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The difference between the rents landlords want for vacant homes and existing leases is narrowing. Blackstone’s $70 billion property fund may have performed too well for its own good. Sky-high rents for the nonmainstream real estate it favors look like another pandemic trend that is about to reverse. Clients learned last week that they will have to wait to get their money out of the private-equity firm’s semiliquid, nontraded real-estate investment trust known as BREIT. Redemption requests in October—mostly from Asian clients, the fund said—pushed BREIT over its withdrawal limit of 2% of net asset value a month.

☆ Blackstone’s BREIT slump looks nasty but not fatal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors knocked around $8 billion off Blackstone’s (BX.N) market capitalization on Thursday after it said investors were fleeing a flagship real estate fund. But it’s a nasty black eye for the $125 billion Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, one of the private-equity giant’s star earners. The real-estate fund only allows withdrawals of 5% of its net asset value - which stood at $69 billion in November- per quarter. So based on some simple math, the erasure of $8 billion of Blackstone’s market value suggests investors think perhaps half of BREIT’s profit might go up in smoke. BREIT’s terms allow for investor redemptions equivalent to 2% of its net asset value a month, or 5% per quarter.

☆ Blackstone Limits Redemptions From Real Estate Vehicle, Stock Sinks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Miriam Gottfried | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. has been has been one of Blackstone’s biggest sources of growth in recent years . Blackstone Inc. shares took a big hit after the investing giant’s real-estate fund aimed at wealthy individuals said it would limit redemptions. Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., more commonly known as BREIT, said Thursday in a letter posted to its website that the amount of withdrawals requested in October exceeded its monthly limit of 2% of its net-asset value and its quarterly threshold of 5%.

☆ Blackstone Stake Sale Values MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay at $5.5 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Peter Grant | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An agreement to sell a stake in two properties, including the MGM Grand Las Vegas, marks one of the largest U.S. casino deals this year. Blackstone Inc. has agreed to sell its 49.9% stake in two Las Vegas hotels in a deal that values the properties at $5.5 billion, marking one of the largest U.S. casino transactions this year. The New York investment firm is selling its stake in the MGM Grand Las Vegas and the Mandalay Bay to Vici Properties Inc., which owns the other 50.1% stake in the properties, the companies said, confirming The Wall Street Journal’s previous report. Blackstone would receive $1.27 billion in cash, and Vici would assume Blackstone’s share of some $3 billion in debt, according to the companies.

☆ The Rosetta Stone’s Best Home Is the British Museum
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The British Museum in London is among the world’s greatest, alongside the Louvre in Paris and the Met in New York City. Like its peers, it’s sometimes embroiled in scandals over the provenance of its artifacts. This week’s scandal concerns the jewel in the British Museum’s curatorial crown, the Rosetta Stone. It contains a decree written in Greek, ancient Egyptian demotic script, and hieroglyphs. This allowed Jean-François Champollion to decipher the latter in 1822, after decades of cooperative (and competitive) effort by scholars across Europe—an achievement the museum is now marking with a bicentennial exhibition.

☆ FDA expresses concern about providers who offer abortion medications before pregnancy, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Medication abortion, also known as medical abortion, is a method by which someone ends their pregnancy by taking two pills, rather than having a surgical procedure. Medication abortion now accounts for more than half of all US abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health. “We’re also proud to offer ongoing, supportive abortion care from our providers as part of our advance provision service to support patients throughout the process,” she said. “Providers are fully able to prescribe medications off-label, and in fact, some prescribe mifepristone up to 12 weeks” into a pregnancy, Upadhyay said. To prescribe the abortion medication, providers have to be certified, and the patient must sign paperwork that says they understand that there is a risk of complications.

☆ Blackstone strikes twice with Emerson carve-out
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The transaction employs an unusual structure similar to one Blackstone used successfully five years ago. It looks a lot like the deal Blackstone struck with Thomson Reuters(TRI.TO) – the parent company of Breakingviews – back in January 2018. Because debt accounted for around two-thirds of the purchase price, the quick sale roughly doubled the value of Blackstone and Thomson Reuters’ equity investments. Private equity group Blackstone will contribute $4.4 billion in cash, receiving a 55% equity stake in the business and a $2 billion convertible preferred note. Emerson, an industrial conglomerate that makes industrial instruments and software, will retain 45% of the division’s equity and a note worth $2.25 billion.

☆ Liz Truss Brought Libertarians to Power in the U.K. and Quickly Out Again
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Max Colchester | David Luhnow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—A few days after Liz Truss first was elected to Britain’s parliament in 2010, she visited the Institute of Economic Affairs, a libertarian think tank in a cramped Georgian house a stone’s throw from Parliament in central London. There she met an old college friend, Mark Littlewood , director general of the IEA, and pitched an idea. “Mark, we are going to set up a caucus of free-market MPs,” Mr. Littlewood recalls her saying.

☆ Blackstone converts Indian property to safe haven
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MUMBAI, Oct 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A global downturn could boost demand for Indian real estate. The investor-cum-landlord led by Steve Schwarzman has played a big role in developing a local market for real estate investment trusts. Now it’s preparing to float a collection of glitzy shopping malls in what would be only the country’s fourth publicly traded REIT. Indian real estate trusts outperform U.S. peersFollow @ugalani on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. On Sept. 27, Blackstone raised $325 million from selling an 8.1% stake in Embassy Office Parks REIT, per IFR.

☆ 'Werewolf by Night' gives Marvel a chance to show off its monster-ous side
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Flexing different muscles, Marvel’s “Werewolf by Night” is a nifty Halloween-timed special designed as a black-and-white homage to the Universal monster movies of the 1930s and ’40s. A brisk 50-ish minutes, the program assumes a fair amount of comic-book knowledge and hits the ground running, with an assembly of monster hunters brought together to compete for the Bloodstone, a supernatural artifact. He’s pursuing a very different agenda – and thanks to Man-Thing, another Marvel character from the early 1970s, not the only monster unleashed. Seen in that light, in fact, “Werewolf by Night” could be the dawn of an intriguing new day. “Werewolf by Night” premieres October 7 on Disney+.

☆ Italy’s loafer king can afford to be more generous
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, Sept 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Tod’s (TOD.MI) founder Diego Della Valle is seeking to delist his bling shoemaker on the cheap. The Italian tycoon on Monday launched a takeover bid at 40 euros a share for the company he controls with a 65% stake. Investor Tabor Asset Management believes that, taken separately, the Italian group’s brands warrant an offer of at least 76 euros a share. That would push the price tag to 60 euros a share, 50% above the current offer, Breakingviews calculations show. With so much hidden value to reap, Della Valle can probably afford to be a tad more generous.

☆ Beijing’s property bandage fails to staunch blood
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Sept 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Another day, another Chinese property market selloff. Hong Kong-listed CIFI (0884.HK) on Wednesday confirmed that it defaulted on an onshore trust loan linked to a property development, blaming slow sales. By the next morning, panicked investors had already wiped out half of CIFI’s market value, some $765 million. The stronger parts of the property market are weakening, and fast. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Singapore air cargo deal elevates its hub status
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, Sept 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Singapore is boosting its hub status as global recession fears loom. Aviation services group SATS (SATS.SI) is acquiring the world’s largest air cargo logistics provider for $2.2 billion from U.S. buyout firm Cerberus. The deal could ultimately lift trade flows through Singapore where aviation contributes more than 5% of GDP. SATS is part of the city-state’s industry trinity that includes its former parent Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) and Changi Airport. As global cargo activity nears pre-pandemic levels, Singapore is providing a strategic home to an asset that’s passed through multiple financial owners.

☆ Blackstone’s Schwarzman kickstarts UK asset grab
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Britain’s currency crisis may have an upside after all – at least for foreign investors. Blackstone’s (BX.N) Steve Schwarzman is paying 80 million pounds for 17th-century country estate Conholt Park, the City A.M. newspaper reported. But it’s exactly the kind of purchase that will make more sense the lower the pound goes. And to the extent that future cash flows are denominated in dollars or euros, the sterling purchase price should rise. U.S. investors just bought Chelsea soccer club, while Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund last year swooped on rival Newcastle United.

☆ Apple tests idea of discretionary spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Apple (AAPL.O) may learn that its moat isn’t as wide during times of high inflation. When wallets are pinched, a new iPhone probably isn’t a must-have. As other currencies have weakened relative to the dollar, Apple has had to raise prices to keep the cost steady relative to America. Already Apple’s share of the global smartphone market has declined sharply to 16% in the second quarter from 23% penetration in the fourth quarter last year, according to research firm IDC. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Search resuls for: "Stone’s"

20 mentions found