Only 18 months ago, Miami Dolphins owner and developer Stephen Ross thought U.S. banks were a wise investment. Now, it seems, he’s changed his mind.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ross and partners in the New York-based Related Companies Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal each put $100 million of their own money, in addition to $1 billion raised from investors, into a fund called SJB Escrow Corp. in 2009, and spent a year researching U.S. banks, hoping to buy or invest $1.1 billion in lenders. The deeper they looked however, the more worrying things became; they saw troubled assets, weak loan demand, rising regulatory costs and few growth prospects.
“We’re disappointed to see the opportunity evaporate,” Ross said. “If you look at the environment today, I feel even more comfortable that we made the right decision [not to invest].” [more]
Posts Tagged ‘the related companies’
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The Palm Beach County Commission is due to select a developer for a new hotel project after previous proposals dating back to 2007 failed to get off the ground. Ocean Properties was to construct a hotel beside the city’s convention center, but it was never built after a series of problems, including a federal investigation into alleged corruption in the deal. The Related Companies, which developed West Palm Beach’s large CityPlace site, was suggested by a county selection committee as the new developer. [Sun-Sentinel]
