Choregus (London) – It seems that West End Office Space in not impervious from the effects of the global economic slow down.

Whilst many had observed the West End continuing to perform despite the pressures, it seems that the credit crunch in finally starting to bite.  CBRE are reporting a 3.2% fall in rental values in the West End office market, with prestigious areas such a Mayfair and St James falling 4.2% to £115 per square foot.

In recent years the West End has been popular with private equity and hedge fund companies, who seek premium office space in prestigious locations.  However, while the City office market has been contracting in the past year, the West End had hitherto been holding up rather impressively.

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Tags: angela-merkel, finance, fund-managers, specifics, uma-thurman, upmarket, windfall

Hartford Courant – Michael Lauer’s estate in the prestigious backcountry neighborhood of this wealthy town looks almost as troubled as the U.S. economy.

The grounds are overgrown with waist-high weeds. A pool cover is filled with filthy, stagnant water. Inside, paint is peeling around the soaring windows.

So when the house of the disgraced hedge fund manager goes up for foreclosure auction today by the Internal Revenue Service, bidders will have to look for its potential — and think about how much they will have to invest to make the 7,300-square-foot contemporary livable again.

Just like taxpayers and business managers eyeing the U.S. economy.

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Tags: cnet, dialogue, fund-management-firm, home-value, investment-bank, middle-class-taxpayers, pariah, r-alexander, specifics, subsidies

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Trump Organization USA announced plans to launch a $1 billion hedge fund to invest in Indian real estate. Donald Trump Jr.’s interest in the Indian real estate market was sparked in 2007 when he visited the subcontinent for the Cityscape real-estate conference in Mumbai.

"We feel it is now time to invest in Indian realty projects as the quality has moved up and we see emergence of some high-end developers with a product level that will support our brand," Trump Jr. said.

Trump announced in late July that he intends to set up a hedge fund worth up to $1 billion to invest in Indian real estate, the privately held fund would initially target property in Mumbai.

Thirty year-old Trump did not give specific details about the fund, such as how he plans to raise the money, or where the first investment would be made. But in an interview with Bloomberg LP, he did say that it would start conservatively and expand as the opportunities presented themselves.

"The fund will be for acquisitions of real estate in the high end and across the spectrum," Trump said. "We’ll start it off relatively small and grow it as we get more familiar with the Indian market. Our entry has to be in Mumbai, and that’s where everything is going on right now in terms of the high-end real estate. That’s the place where one is going to achieve the highest prices per square foot. It sets the tone for all of the other future developments."
 
When asked at the conference which cities Trump Organization would consider for business deals, Trump responded, "Certainly, the city I’m standing on (Mumbai), Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, where the IT sector has witnessed a boom."

Alex Akesson

Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: alex@hedgeco.net

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