Real Estate Investment

NEW YORK, March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lexington Realty Trust ("Lexington") , a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on single-tenant real estate investments, today announced the $20.0 million acquisition of an approximately 52,000 square foot ten-story medical office building in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The purchase was financed with cash balances which included proceeds from a 1031 exchange property.

The office building is 100% net leased to Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates with an initial lease term expiring in May 2012. The medical office building is located .

US Investors Bullish on Indian Real Estate

Anoop Dave, a real estate consultant in Philadelphia, recalls a dinner conversation he had two years ago with a senior Goldman Sachs executive involved in the firm's global real estate investments. This executive swore he would never invest in India, adding that his determination had been cemented by impressions formed after a recent visit to the country.Times change. For about a year now, Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds have been exploring the Indian market and checking out potential investment partners. In March 2005, the firm announced it planned to invest up to $1 billion over the next two years in Indian private equity, real estate, private wealth management, and other businesses in India for its institutional clients. A month later, California Public Employees' Retirement System invested $100 million in a $400 million real estate fund promoted by India's Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services.

Six Ways to Limit Uncle Sam's Take

Why are mutual funds such a potential tax headache? By law, mutual funds are required to pass all income and realized profits on investments along to shareholders through income and capital gains distributions. If you're investing through a taxable account, you'll have to pay taxes on those distributions. Short-term gains are taxed at the higher ordinary-income rate, as is income from taxable bonds, commodities, and real estate investment trusts. Meanwhile, long-term gains and stock dividends are generally taxed at the 15% rate. Thus, funds that trade a lot, and thus generate heavy short-term gains, generally aren't tax efficient. The same is true for income-heavy offerings, such as bond or REIT funds.

That's not to say you shouldn't have fast-trading funds in your portfolio or that you should avoid bonds and REITs.

Ptarmigan Capital Appoints Arvind K. Bajaj as Principal

Ptarmigan Capital, an alternative asset management firm focusing on real estate-related investments, including private equity real estate investments in India and opportunistic investments in the U.S. residential markets, today announced the appointment of Arvind K. Bajaj as a Principal of the firm. He will focus on Ptarmigan's global real estate products. The Firm has recently announced plans to invest in the residential and commercial real estate sector in southern India.

Mr. Bajaj has over 20 years of experience building successful commercial real estate finance businesses globally. In 2004, Mr. Bajaj joined Credit Suisse as a Managing Director and head of European CMBS Distribution. In 2005, he was promoted to be head of both CMBS Origination and Distribution. Under his leadership, Credit Suisse's pan-European commercial real estate conduit lending program grew to originate in excess of US$10 billion of real estate facilities in just three years.

Chartwell Seniors Housing Real Estate Investment Trust Treasury ...

Chartwell Seniors Housing Real Estate Investment Trust ("Chartwell") (TSX:CSH.UN) of Mississauga, Ontario today announced that it has agreed to sell, subject to regulatory approval, 14,100,000 Units for $14.25 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $200,925,000 and $75,000,000 of 5.9% subordinated unsecured convertible debentures due May 1, 2012 (the "Debentures") to a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets on a bought-deal basis. Chartwell has granted to the Underwriters an option (the "Underwriters Over-allotment Option"), exercisable in whole or in part up to 30 days after closing, to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Units issued on the same terms as set forth above. This offering is expected to increase Chartwell's market capitalization to approximately $1.4 billion, based on the offering price for the Units.

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust Presents at the 2007 ...

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT) (NYSE:WRE) announces that Edmund B. Cronin, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Washington Real Estate Investment Trust will present at the 2007 Credit Suisse Global Real Estate Conference in New York, New York. Mr. Cronin is scheduled to present on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time.

The live presentation will be webcast in audio only and can be accessed from the Investor section under Calendar of Events on WRIT's website, http://www.writ.com. Please be advised that other companies' presentations will be available via the same webcast link so it is important to log on as the WRIT presentation begins. Please note that it is possible for the preceding presentation to be delayed, thus affecting the time that WRIT presents.