US fears secret banking cabal

Last post for the day from across the pond…But if you’re interested in following the mood in the US, it’s all about Bernanke now, and whether he deserves another stint at the head of the Fed. There’s been suspicious Internet chatter under the radar for months about his suitability, but the impact of former Fed chief Paul Volcker getting Obama to push for serious banking reforms is going wider. When Bloomberg runs an opinion piece entitled “Secret banking cabal emerges…”, you know something’s going on.

Citigroup selling off property

Distress or no, Citigroup’s a vendor that’s discovered it doesn’t want to be in the property game anymore, meaning that somewhere between $5bn to $10bn worth of assets are currently on the market. That indicates the company believes there’s investor interest, and financing available. Apollo Global Management and Macquarie Group are thought to be in the running.

Property owners have found it difficult to refinance because the market for commercial mortgage-backed securities that fueled the real estate boom has slowed. CMBS sales fell to $12.2 billion last year from a record $237 billion in 2007, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Falling values are likely to spur rating cuts for subordinate CMBS bonds sold from 2006 to 2008, Moody’s said in November.

That’s an amazing stat: $237bn in CMBS sales in 2007 down to $12.2bn in 2009.

Anti-Auchan activism in Hungary

The Internet’s great for spreading information between people all around the world. It’s also great for organizing people against developments they don’t like. Not that the extension of a parking lot at Auchan’s Dunakeszi store looks stoppable at this point. Local citizens don’t like the fact it will ruin a marshy area near the existing lot.

Citizens of Dunakeszi, activists in environmental protectionism and students rallied on Saturday for the marsh of Dunakeszi. Some weeks ago a debate had broken out among the defenders of the marsh (in Hungarian: láp) and the Auchan supermarket deciding to extend its parking lot on the marsh.

Sparkassen Immo looking for CEE investors

Sparkassen Immo board member Holger Schmidtmayr has told the Wall Street Journal his company has no plans to pull out of CEE. Just the opposite. He says the fund will actually quit investing in Germany and Austria.

Holger Schmidtmayr told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview that the company is planning to invest EUR400 million in the next two years in the major capitals of Central and Eastern Europe, excluding Poland, which has become too expensive. “We are looking for developments with longer term, international tenants and stable income,” he said.

HB Reavis: Ivan Valent replaced by Slavomir Jankovic

A press release this morning from HB Reavis indicates that chairman of the board Ivan Valent has been replaced by Slavomir Jankovic, who’s been director of development since 2006. Jankovic worked previously for Shell and before that for MOL. No word yet about the reasons for the shake up.

BNP Paribas predicting recovery

Everyone’s getting out their crystal balls these days. BNP Paribas Real Estate are the latest, and they’ve opted for a more optimistic outlook. Its chairman Peter Rosler says investment could rise 20 to 30%, which while certainly the direction we’d all like to see, doesn’t exactly get us back to the good old days. The Irish Independent writes:

Speaking at BNP Paribas Real Estate’s annual property presentation in Paris, Patrick Curran, managing director, BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland, said the price correction that occurred in all European markets was allowing investors to come back into the markets in order to catch opportunities. “Moreover, deals larger than €40m are being closed again more frequently, showing that investors are able to get access to credit more easily.”

JLL regional management changes

We mentioned that Ferenc Furulyas had taken over the reins of JLL’s Budapest office, and the company has now made it official with a press release. At the same time, it announces officially that Troy Javaher will be managing director in Bucharest (he will retain his role as head of capital markets). For those who want to read it, the press release can be viewed here.

HN: Prague 7 considering Orco and PPF offers

Hospodarske noviny is reporting that last fall, Orco offered to sell the former Elektricke podniky building along the Bubny rail station site to Prague 7 for CZK 685m. That happens to be the same price it bought the building for from PPF Alpha back in 2006. The municipality is looking for new headquarters.

Prague 7 council member Ondrej Mirovsky said that buying the building plus  reconstructing the building would cost around CZK 1.6bn. HN writes that according to documents Orco sent Prague 7, the municipality would pay Orco CZK 200m, while an additional CZK 485m would be sent to Calyon bank, which financed the original purchase.

Ceska typografie sold

For what seems like forever now, Austrian developer Plan & Bau (S+B CEE Beteiligungsverwaltung to be exact) has been trying to turn its purchase of the Ceska typografie building in Prague 1 into a viable project. Not any more. Penta Investments has just announced that it has purchased the old printing building, which it describes as 25,000 sqm of office and 45,000 sqm of storage. It says it will first work on getting planning permission (it’s amazing that this wasn’t in place yet) and then begin a phased construction in 2012 in an investment it expects to cost it €200m.

Kooperativa closes largest lease deal of 2009

The Czech insurance company ended 2009 by agreeing to the largest lease deal of 2009 when it agreed to make a planned 36,000 sqm office building in Prague 8 its future headquarters. The developer, PSJ Invest, has been working on plans for Main Point Karlin for years, and will be able to go ahead now with construction. JLL helped the tenant choose from among 30 potential buildings over a two year period.

Ferenc Furulyas takes over at JLL Hungary

Ferenc Furulyas has confirmed the word on the street, which is that he has taken over as managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s office in Budapest. An official statement is expected in the very near future. A veteran at the company, Ferenc was head of investments until now. He replaces outgoing MD Thierry Delvaux.

Budapest’s chief architect quits

Eva Beleznay, Budapest’s respected chief architect, has quit, and the city’s leadership has accepted her resignation. While there are some known tensions that were known about, there’s been no word on the immediate cause of this decision. We should be able to throw some light on matters later in the day.