Good morning. Here is your morning dose of news and views from EG, plus a selection of from the morning’s papers.
Home REIT has apparently spurned its suitor, Bluestar Group, refusing to extend its “put up or shut up” deadline by another month. But Bluestar has gone on the attack, saying the REIT has thwarted its overtures right from the beginning. Beware the suitor scorned!
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove has been forced into a u-turn over plans to ban residential leaseholds. Reforms will still go ahead, but they will be significantly watered down.
The RICS would rather they were rethought altogether, saying the planned Renters Reform Bill will simply add to pressures on landlords and exacerbate the housing crisis. And it wants the mandatory housebuilding targets reinstated too.
Gove, meanwhile, is locked in another battle about cladding, this time with an Italian count who owns more land than the King.
But good news for Dame Sharon White. The John Lewis chair has survived a confidence vote, and her BTR plans have been given the blessing of the partnership. Partners aren’t so happy about the retailer’s recent losses, though.
Landsec will open three more Myo locations across London before the end of the year as part of its wider flex expansion plans. The move will take Landsec’s total flexible office offering to more than 210,000 sq ft.
And Singapore’s IP Investment Management wants to boost its UK real estate investment by more than a half over the next 12-18 months, as it opens its London HQ.
But more consolidation is coming to asset management, Brookfield has predicted. Its boss, Bruce Flatt, has said smaller players will be absorbed by the larger institutions, leaving just a handful of giants.
Still, he sounds more upbeat than Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at the weekend. The tough times will get tougher, writes EG’s editor, but for every hard day there is something we should celebrate. And that’s what the EG Awards are all about.
Talking of which, everything you need to know about those 21 categories and how to enter can be found here.
