Good morning,
Investors in Blackstone’s BREIT asked to withdraw $4.5bn in March. That’s an increase of 15%, and the fifth month in a row that the fund has been forced to limit redemptions. It paid out just $666m. The requests show significantly less optimism than Blackstone displayed in yesterday’s announcement to buy Industrials REIT for £700m.
Investment in central London offices has shown some signs of recovery after a dire end to last year, according to new analysis from CBRE. Investment reached £1.65bn over the first quarter of 2023, more than double that of the final three months of 2022. But that is a far cry from the £5.1bn of deals sealed in Q1 last year.
Poor housing stock is costing the NHS £1.4bn a year, according to research by the Building Research Establishment.
The government’s key net zero plans are likely to fail, according to its own advisers.
And just 5% of FTSE 100 companies’ climate transition plans are worth the recycled paper they are written on, according to EY.
EG talks to whatever the collective noun is for a group of life sciences experts about why the UK must support later growth to build the clusters of the future.
In other news, former chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Lawson has died. He is credited as being the architect of the Big Bang deregulation of London’s financial markets and a leading proponent of privatisation.
M7’s Regional E-Warehouse REIT has posted its inaugural results. Since it listed on IPSX in October 2021 the REITs NAV has dropped by 11.3%, but rents are looking solid.
Allsop has raised £38.7m in its virtual March auction from the sale of 128 lots.
Hanover Green has promoted Guy Milne to equity principal.
Trafalgar Entertainment has bought Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre in its first venture north of the border.
An historic country mansion in Scotland will be demolished to make way for housing.
The owners of Frankfurt’s Trianon building have hired advisers to restructure its $375m debt, in what is being seen as a sign of the strains in the market.
And Chinese developer Evergrande has won investor support for a plan to restructure its $20bn offshore debt.
And finally, Donald Trump will head to court in New York today to find out the exact details of which laws he is alleged to have broken. It is believed that the indictment contains at least 30 charges and at least one felony.
