| Wells Real Estate Funds Named to Top Real Estate Brands
NORCROSS, Ga. (April 2, 2007) Wells Real Estate Funds, one of the nations leading office landlords, has been named one of the top real estate brands in a new survey by the Lipsey Company. Wells cracked the rankings for the first time, placing 16th in Lipseys 2007 Top 25 Commercial Real Estate Brands. Lipsey surveyed over 25,000 practitioners including representatives of REITs, institutions, mortgage bankers, commercial brokers, asset managers, property managers and other professionals. We are honored to be mentioned with many of the greatest names in our industry, said Leo Wells, president of Wells Real Estate Funds. This is a real tribute to the dedication of our more than 400 people nationwide. Wells Real Estate Funds (www.wellsref.com), founded in 1984, is a national real estate investment management company, based in suburban Atlanta, which purchases and manages real estate on behalf of Wells-sponsored investment programs. Wells portfolios, including Wells Real Estate Investment Trust (Wells REIT) and Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II (Wells REIT II), now include more than 39 million square feet of space in 166 buildings, primarily Class-A office properties, geographically diversified across 28 states and Washington, D.C. The combined portfolios are 96 percent leased.
NYSE heads for Paris to woo Asia
Promising Chinese and Indian companies have long been accustomed to foreign investment bankers knocking on their doors, but over the past two years they have started to receive another type of visitor – overseas stock exchanges wanting to host their initial public offerings. That courtship is about to get more intense after the completion last week of the deal between the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Euronext to create the first ever transatlantic stock exchange. NYSE Euronext has set itself the target of attracting IPOs from emerging Asian companies, notably from India and China, which it hopes to lure with the prospect of listings in both the US and Europe. By moving NYSE's global listings division to Paris, the exchange plans to win business from foreign issuers who have decided in recent years to avoid the US because of the litigation risks and what some feel is excessive red tape, including parts of the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.
VTB Boasts Its IPO Will Best Sberbank's
CEO Alexei Kostin touted VTB's upcoming share sale as a "people's IPO" at a news conference Tuesday, as the bank announced a net profit of $1.18 billion for 2006. "The impetus for the IPO is Russia's booming banking sector, and we intend to capitalize on this by broadening our retail investment and expanding to overseas markets," he said. Kostin said he expected up to 23 percent of VTB to be sold for at least 120 billion rubles ($4.6 billion). Russians are actively applying to buy shares in the initial public offering, which started taking domestic orders Monday, Kostin said. He contrasted the VTB offering with the recent Sberbank share sale, which he called a "local share emission." As the country's first genuine bank IPO, a few mistakes would probably be unavoidable, Kostin said.
Ontario NDP demanding details of $50m Magna deal
Ontario's NDP is demanding more details of a $50-million government investment in a new research-and-development centre proposed by Aurora, Ont.- based Magna International Inc. Greg Sorbara, the Finance Minister, announced the investment in his provincial budget speech on Thursday, but there was no mention of the contribution in the budget papers. "The finalization of support of that facility was not reached until after the budget went to press but I thought that it was such an important milestone and consistent with other themes in the budget that I decided to put it in my written text," Mr. Sorbara told reporters yesterday. .
Forex - Yen remains weak as Australia rate decision fails to dent ...
LONDON (AFX) - The yen remained weak as the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) decision overnight not to raise interest rates failed to dent the carry trade, with a rate hike in May still fully expected. A carry trade is where investors borrow in low-yielding currencies such as the yen in order to invest in higher-yielding assets elsewhere. The popularity for this type of trade has been boosted by expectations that rates in countries with high interest rates such as Australia and the UK will rise while staying static in areas with low rates such as Japan and Switzerland. Though there was some disappointment the RBA left rates on hold at 6.25 pct, given the recent very strong data out of Australia a rate hike in May will now be seen as all but a certainty.
Ten Stock Picks From Barbara Marcin of Gamco Investors
Forbes Investor Advisory Institute hosted a Financial Roundtable on March 22, 2007 with a number of leading investment professionals. From the Roundtable, hosted by Wally Forbes, here's an excerpt from Barbara Marcin (pictured), a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors, Inc. where she manages the Gabelli Blue Chip Value Fund and the Gabelli Dividend and Income Fund: ............... I think there's a lot of value in general in the market. Just before coming here I looked at the largest 20 stocks in the S&P 500 just as another check. They're selling at a multiple of 13.5 on this year's earnings. And they're wonderful companies with good balance sheets and the cash flow and earnings to seed growth faster in growing areas overseas. So, I guess I could name a lot of stocks but I'll pick just a few.
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