Finance

Freddie Mac today named Raymond G. Romano chief credit officer. Romano had been the company’s senior vice president of credit risk oversight since joining Freddie Mac in 2004 and in September also took the position of acting chief credit officer. Romano’s appointment follows a nationwide search to fill the position, which is responsible for credit risk management activities across the entire Freddie Mac enterprise. “Managing credit effectively is the cornerstone of this company, particularly in a turbulent economy,” Freddie Mac CEO David Moffett said in a prepared statement. “Ray has really demonstrated leadership at Freddie Mac, and I can think…

Fidelity National Financial Inc. has closed on the previously-announced acquisition of LandAmerica Financial Group’s two title insurance underwriters, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co.and Lawyers Title Insurance Corp.. The total price tag of the deal was some $235 million. Fidelity also bought out United Capital Title Insurance Co. Fidelity National Financial already consists of several title insurance underwriters, including Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title. Together these companies issue more than a quarter of all title insurance policies in the nation. The purchase just closed will make Fidelity National Financial the largest title insurer…

The quarterly report by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the national GDP is something of a lagging indicator. The fact that the U.S. economy contracted 0.5 percent in the third quarter–July to September–might be worrisome, but it only raises the further question of how much contraction will happen in the fourth quarter. The other shoe is bound to drop, and it’s expected to make a bigger thud when it does. Some prognosticators are predicting as much a 6 percent contraction in 4Q08, the steepest drop since 1982. The markets didn’t take the news well, but didn’t melt down either….

Infrastructure like toll roads, bridges, wastewater treatment facilities and the like does not precisely count as real estate, though it is a physical asset that produces a revenue stream, so the difference may be only academic. Infrastructure deals are not exactly net lease structures, either, but here, too, are similarities. When an investor “buys” a bit of infrastructure, it is usually leasing the property under a very long-term lease with the right to the long-term revenue stream in return for a boatload of cash paid upfront to the “seller.”However one categorizes infrastructure deals, they seem to be catching on in…

Back in January 2008, long before the capital markets took their astonishing twists, Fitch Ratings made a sobering prediction: By the end of the year, its CMBS loan delinquency index would be double or triple the 0.28 percent recorded at the end of 2007. Fitch’s crystal ball turned out to be right on the money. On Friday the ratings agency reported that CMBS delinquency reached 0.64 percent for November. At this pace, Fitch projects that CMBS delinquencies could hit 2 percent by the end of 2009.A bad month or two does not necessarily make a trend, and Fitch often notes…

Nationwide Financial Network has finalized the sale and partial leaseback of its corporate office at 300 Continental Drive in Newark, Del. Nationwide was represented by CB Richard Ellis Inc. in the deal. The three-story, 160,000-square-foot Class A office building is located on 22 acres of land. The buyer, Sallie Mae, purchased the property for $20.75 million and will leaseback 72,000 square feet to Nationwide for a term of one year.The property is within close proximity to hotels, restaurants, shopping and mass transit and is approximately eight miles from both the New Castle County Airport and the Newark Amtrak Station and…

In the first decline since July in the delinquency rate among U.S. commercial real estate loan collateralized debt obligations, that rate fell from 3.13 percent in October to 2.80 percent in November, according to the latest information from Fitch Ratings.Fitch currently rates 35 CREL CDOs comprising about 1,100 loans and 370 rated securities/assets with a balance of $23.8 billion. “The continued lack of available capital is driving maturity defaults of CRE loans,” Fitch senior director Karen Trebach said in a prepared statement. “However, asset managers are continuing to extend many of these loans, with the extension of two large performing…

Cole Credit Property Trust III has kicked off a public offering of up to 250 million shares of common stock valued at approximately $2.5 billion. Net proceeds from the offering will be primarily earmarked for the acquisition of net leased retail properties. The REIT is offering up to 230 million common-stock shares at $10.00 per share. It can also tender up to an additional 20 million common-stock shares with a price tag of $9.50 per share for issuance under its distribution reinvestment program. Cole Capital Corp., a segment of investment firm Cole Real Estate Investments, will manage the 250 million…

AG Net Lease, the net lease arm of  Angelo, Gordon & Co., has acquired five of Consolidated Container Co.’s, manufacturing and distribution facilities located in three states for $34.3 million. The properties are located in: Santa Ana, Calif.; Tracy, Calif.; Baltimore; Elizabeth, N.J.; and Monroe, N.J.  “Like other financing alternatives, the availability of capital for sale-leasebacks is severely constrained today,”  Gordon Whiting, founder & chief portfolio manager of AG Net Lease, noted in a release. “As this deal shows, we continue to close complex transactions with leading sponsors and their portfolio companies. We will remain very active closing sale-leasebacks in…

The credit freeze has slowed direct investment in commercial real estate everywhere in the world, but in some places sale-leaseback activity is picking up some of the slack.That’s one of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s conclusions in its “H12008 Global Real Estate Capital Report.” The latest trend in sale-leasebacks comes in the wake of rapid growth in that form of corporate finance worldwide in the past few years. In the first six months of 2005, sale-leasebacks formed $10.4 billion of the total investment transaction volume internationally. That figure rose to $20.7 billion in the first half of 2006 and to $30.7…