Big discounts on sale of Perelman properties and loans

Billionaire takes loss as he unloads two Upper East Side buildings

Ron Perelman and 35-39 East 62nd Street (Getty, Google Maps)
Ron Perelman and 35-39 East 62nd Street (Getty, Google Maps)

Buyers are getting a big break on Ron Perelman’s properties and loans backed by them.

Citigroup has sold loans secured by three of Perelman’s Upper East Side properties at a discount of approximately 40 percent, Bloomberg News reported.

The loans, scooped up by an undisclosed party for $115 million, were in default with a balance of $193 million, according to the outlet. They mature in 2023. A Cushman & Wakefield capital markets team shopped the loans secured by Perelman’s properties.

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Citi’s move comes as two of the three buildings securing the loans were sold this month — at least one far below what Perelman paid for it, according to documents filed Thursday.

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The offices of Perelman’s investment firm MacAndrews & Forbes at 35 East 62nd Street sold for $25 million, and the company’s adjacent building at 39 East 62nd Street went for $10 million. Perelman’s firm bought the latter building in 2004 for $14.5 million.

The Chapman Group bought both buildings.

Perelman has been on a liquidation spree, selling his stake in Humvee-maker AM General, shopping a pair of Upper East Side homes on 63rd Street for $75 million and putting his private Gulfstream 650 aircraft, a 257-foot yacht, and artwork worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the market.

Some proceeds from the art will reportedly pay down loans from Citigroup. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and UBS hold loans related to the artwork, according to Bloomberg.

Perelman, who is 78, said in September that he planned to “clean house, simplify and give others the chance to enjoy some of the beautiful things that I’ve acquired.”