Good morning.
Blackstone’s real estate empire(£) has grown by a third as the private equity giant posted its “best ever” results. The group’s real estate AUM now stands at $230bn (£194bn), up by 32% from a year ago.
Evergrande has narrowly avoided a formal default(£) after making an $83.5m interest payment in the nick of time. Now it just has to find another $193m in the next couple of weeks.
And WeWork’s share price has soared by 13.5% during its first day of trading. Shares ended the day at $11.78(£), valuing the company at about $9.3bn. The float has valued the stake of its ousted co-founder, Adam Neumann, at around $1bn(£).
But that wasn’t half as impressive – or even a 30th as impressive – as the 421% rise clocked by the DWAC SPAC(£), the vehicle planning to take Donald Trump’s new social media outlet public. Wait, is impressive the right word?
Meanwhile, Shaftesbury and Capco were among the sharpest risers on the FTSE 350, as both were boosted by a recovery in West End values.
And the firm behind holidaycottages.co.uk is set to float(£) with an estimated value of £350m.
Octopus Real Estate has partnered with Homes England to commit £175m to a new platform offering finance for developers.
Clarion has struck a deal to fund and own the 139 affordable homes at FEC’s Consort Place scheme in Canary Wharf.
An interest rate rise seems a dead cert, after the Bank of England’s chief economist said that inflation will rise to 5%(£) early next year.
The furlough scheme was the biggest peacetime intervention in the UK jobs market, costing taxpayers £69bn(£). That rises to £100bn when you take the self-employed into account.
The FT (£) takes a close look at John Lewis’s “not creepy” plans to become a landlord.
The rebuilding of the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh building(£) will not begin for another six years.
Corruption is rife among Malta’s “mad” developers, says The Times (£).
And finally, the US may have realtors willing to bare all to sell a house, but in the UK agents sing for their supper. That is literally true of Claire Cosey(£), founder of Just Knock in Leighton Buzzard. After her nightclub singing career was put on ice by Covid she returned to property and set up her own firm. In an attempt to stand out in a crowded marketplace, she started to sing the virtues of her client’s homes to the tunes of pop hits. Could this be the start of a growing trend? And if so, who will be the first commercial agent to step up to the mic?
