While it’s bad enough that the boom days of commercial real estate are over, Barry Sternlicht argues that investors are stuck with their tail between their legs in the wake of the market crash. The Starwood Capital CEO talked with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo about navigating the market downturn, saying that investors today are more conservative — and sheepish — than they were just a few years ago. “People are doing things today because they’re a little embarrassed about what they did before, so they need money to restructure,” Sternlicht said. But Starwood could be in a position to help save face. “We’re focused on lending money… and we’re buying a lot of debt,” Sternlicht said.
Posts Tagged ‘debt’
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The older population tends to experience greater challenges managing debt, according to a report from AARP, due in part to the housing slowdown that limits payback options. The study showed that of those U.S. residents who carry debt, 25 percent of the over-50 population spends more than 75 percent to pay off creditors. The report suggests that, before the housing crisis, seniors were likely to sell their homes or take out reverse mortgages to help pay off debt. Gail Cunningham, a representative from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, told Newsweek that her group has seen “an across-the-board increase in seniors coming to [it] for help.”
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Realogy’s debt prices skyrocketed
as the real estate giant announced it is seeking $325 million of
second-lien term loans in exchange for bonds held by Icahn Partners.
According to a source familiar with the deal, JPMorgan Chase will
arrange the 4.5-year loan, which will be used to repay existing bank
debt which has climbed even higher. As of 2:44 p.m. today, Realogy’s
$1.7 billion of 10.5 percent notes due in 2014 rose 8.6 cents to 80.75
cents on the dollar, according to Trace, a bond price reporting system
of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. “The transaction, if it
closes, will allow Realogy to pay down first-lien secured debt,” said
Emile Courtney, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s. [Bloomberg] [more]
