| Recent IPO Fortress Investment Group Is Bouncing Off It's All Time Low
(RTTNews) - Fortress Investment Group (FIG | charts | news | PowerRating) has been breaking down in the last few sessions and today the stock is bouncing off it's all time low. The stock has been climbing steadily for the last90 minutes and is now picking up steam and is moving further higher on increased trading. Shares of FIG are trading up by $1.23 at $25.48. Copyright(c) 2007 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved .
Analysts Initiate Fortress Investment With 'Buy' Rating
FP Trading Desk submits: After the stock skyrocketed from a starting point of US$18.50 per share on its first day of trading (Feb. 9), Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) shares dipped substantially with much of the market in March. However, the first private equity and hedge fund group to go public in the U.S. saw its shares climb US$1.71 to close at US$28.53 on Wednesday after Banc of America and Goldman Sachs initiated covered on the stock with ‘buy' ratings. Tuesday's announcement from Fortress that it declared a partial first quarter cash dividend of US$0.1225 per Class A share surely helped. While Banc of America analyst Michael Hecht has a US$35 price target on Fortress shares, Goldman's Marc Irizarry expects the shares to climb to $32.47.
Apollo to snag $1.5 billion by the back door?
Suppose you have a wildly successful business in an ultra-hot market. Time to sell? It's probably something to consider. Well, that's certainly the state of affairs in the private equity world. According to the Wall Street Journal, the founder of Apollo Management, Leon Black, is mulling these kinds of cash-out issues [subscription required]. His private equity firm is one of the largest and has done many deals, including ones for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: HET), Realogy Corp. (NYSE: H), and Nalco Holding Co. (NYSE: NLC). Based on the market multiples -- such as for Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) -- it looks like Black could take home about $1.5 billion by selling a minority stake of 10% but still keep control of his destiny. To me, this is having your cake and eating it too.
Business studies: should we hire or fire The Apprentice?
He is calm, thoughtful and self-effacing. Quite the opposite of the irascible, overbearing Sir Alan Sugar. So the news that Tim Campbell, the first winner of The Apprentice, is leaving his boss to start his own male grooming business is an encouraging success in the unreal world of reality television shows. That Campbell will also launch the Bright Ideas Trust to give away at least £1m a year to budding entrepreneurs is also a feel-good story in advance of the new series of the BBC show, which pits 16 hopefuls against one another for the prize of a £100,000 salary to work for the belligerent tycoon for a year. It may dilute some of the negative publicity following the parting of ways between Sir Alan and last year's winner, Michelle Dewberry, but the big question remains: does the show reflect or require the qualities needed for success in the real world? .
The best performing property segments
SA's biggest shopping centres have lost their position as one of the best performing market segments as total returns fell by nearly a third.
This is according to the SAPOA/Investment Property Databank (IPD) Property Index for 2006, which showed that the biggest shopping centres achieved a total return of 24,9% in 2006, well below its performance the year before of 35,9%.
The best performing market segment last year was standard industrial units, which achieved a total return of 33,7% (36,8% in 2005). In addition, high-tech, light and warehousing industrial units were amongst the top performing marketing segments in 2006.
Office property, in particular in the inner city, performed the worst.
The index measures returns to direct investment in commercial property and is compiled from valuation and management records for individual buildings in complete portfolios.
Fortress Investment initiated with "buy"
NEW YORK, March 21 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Banc of America Securities initiate coverage of Fortress Investment Group (ticker: FIG) with a "buy" rating. The target price is set to $35.
In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company has limited sub-prime exposure from the CTX Home Equity business. There is strong visibility into Fortress Investment earnings, the analysts say. The companys 2008 dividend yield is expected to be higher than that of its peers, Banc of America Securities adds. .
Are Blackstone's people worth four times Google's?
If the market is efficient, private equity's people are worth much more than Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) people. And at $52 million an employee, I think private equity is selling out at the top. Blackstone Group's IPO has affected me twice. The first time I was on my way to a CNBC studio to talk about investment opportunities in the mortgage market when the producer called to cancel my segment so David Faber could announce Blackstone Group's IPO. Then, last week, my car was turned around again when CNBC canceled my segment on whether Blackstone was overvalued -- I unknowingly violated CNBC's policy against appearing on the network twice in the same day and I had already appeared once that day. I think that if private equity firms -- like Blackstone -- are selling, I don't want to be a buyer.
Dinner, Too Much Wine And Alternative Investments
The other night we were having dinner in Freeman's with a young investment banker. She was wearing those toe-clevage shoes that women are wearing this spring, and something bright that predicted the Spring weather that the calendars confirmed which had not gone through the trouble of actually arriving. We were dressed in the ubiquitous uniform of young men these days—jeans, a blazer and a solid colored oxford shirt that was not too well pressed. We had a thick, brown venison stew accompanied by a squash confection that looked almost like a pumpkin. She ordered a salad with its dressing on the side. It arrived fully dressed but she did not send it back, announcing that her appetite had been satisfied by the appetizer and the wine. The appetizer had been a pungent and delicious artichoke dip.
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