Investment

Blackstone offers backstop to lure University of California in redemption-stricken REIT

Published

2 years ago

January 3, 2023

Jan 3 (Reuters) – Blackstone Inc (BX.N) on Tuesday said it had secured a $4 billion investment from the University of California in its unlisted real estate income trust (BREIT) that has been plagued by investor redemptions, after the private equity firm committed $1 billion to backstop the university’s returns in the fund.

In an unprecedented move, Blackstone exercised its right in November to limit redemptions in the $69 billion BREIT after it received investor requests for redemptions exceeding 5% of the fund’s net asset value. It blamed investors in Asia facing a cash crunch because of the market turmoil for the move.

While the BREIT’s returns have remained robust — it gained 8.4% net of fees in 2022 versus a 26% decline to the publicly traded Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT Total Return Index (.DWRTFT)
— Blackstone has been seeking to convince investors that such outperformance will continue given a rise in interest rates that is weighing on large swathes of the real estate sector.

UC Investments, the University of California’s investment arm, agreed to hold its investment in BREIT for at least six years. In exchange, Blackstone will offer $1 billion of its own investment in BREIT as collateral, allowing for that money to go to UC Investments to make up for any shortfall if the university does not achieve a minimum 11.25% annualized net return through January 2028.

The agreement represents a show of confidence in BREIT at a time when more capital in the fund wants out. Blackstone disclosed on Tuesday that redemption demand from investors in the REIT totaled about $3.8 billion in December, up from about $3 billion in November when it raised the gates. Blackstone decided to allow investors to redeem $151 million in December, meeting just 4% of the demand to cash out.

Blackstone said it will receive 5% of all profit generated above the 11.25% threshold return guaranteed to UC Investments.

UC Investments will also pay to Blackstone the normal fees charged to all BREIT investors: 12.5% of profits and 1.25% of total investment as management fees.

Blackstone’s shares were up 1.42% in afternoon trading on Tuesday. The stock has lost 43% of its value over the past 12 months.

BREIT, which is marketed to high net-worth investors rather than institutional clients like pension funds and insurance firms, has become a key part of Blackstone’ asset management franchise, contributing more than 17% to the firm’s earnings.

UC Investments has about $152 billion in assets under management.

Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Shinjini Ganguli, Shounak Dasgupta and Andrea Ricci

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

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Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

3 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

4 weeks ago

October 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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