Private Banking in Singapore is Booming February 12, 2007
Posted by The Tryon Street Journal in Business.add a comment
Singapore is now giving Switzerland a run for its money (pun intended) in the private banking business. Yaroslav Trofimov and Edward Taylor at WSJ report that the demand for bankers in Singapore greatly exceeds the supply, and that trend is expected to continue. There has been such a surge in recruiting activity for experienced (or inexperienced) bankers that the country has begun training programs for new hires to make sure the level of service they provide the highly-affluent is up to par.
It sounds to me like it would be a great place for college grads and those already in the business world to consider working, especially for the overseas experience.
The Tryon Street Journal makes “Blogs of the Day” February 12, 2007
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Thanks to you, The Tryon Street Journal made the WordPress “Blogs of the Day” ranking (#39) of blogs with the greatest increase in traffic in the past 24 hours. Being that this blog is nothing more than a hobby, it’s cool to see people are at least finding it in the sea of blogs out there… WordPress alone has over half a million unique blogs.
Tuscan Development to expand Optimist Park condos February 8, 2007
Posted by The Tryon Street Journal in Charlotte, Real Estate.5 comments
Yesterday at the University City Partners‘ breakfast event, Rip Farris, President of Tuscan Development, announced plans to continue building another phase of condos in Optimist Park. I wish I had the rendering to post, but it should be in the Charlotte Observer in a few weeks. Tuscan’s current projects in the neighborhood include Opt12 and Duncan Gardens. Rip talked about the area’s immense potential, due to low land prices and its location between the Sugar Creek Greenway and the proposed northern light rail line.
Another one of Tuscan’s notable projects include The Watermark, an office building off Kings Drive and Morehead. It looks like the type of design I’ve seen in Seattle.
Your Facebook Profile May Now Help You Get A Job February 8, 2007
Posted by The Tryon Street Journal in Business, Tech.add a comment
In case you didn’t realize it, prospective employers learn about you online, and one major way they do that is via your Facebook profile (think about that…). Now Facebook has teamed up with Jobster to build a career-friendly section of your online profile specifically oriented to companies looking to hire. The tech and career aspects of this are one thing, but think about it this way… is your job candidacy helped/hurt by what photos are posted of you, and more importantly, who your friends are?
It will be interesting to see how Facebook builds this professional side of their site while maintaining the social/casual nature of its network that has made it so popular. Anjali Athavaley says it best.
Details of the Blackstone/Equity Office Deal February 8, 2007
Posted by The Tryon Street Journal in Business, Real Estate.2 comments
This week the Blackstone Group finally got its game – Sam Zell’s Equity Office Properties (EOP). Most everyone already knows about the deal and how Vornado Realty Trust was also vying for EOP’s prime real estate holdings. But two key elements that may not get the same headline exposure as the deal itself, but that I think are very interesting, are what the future of Class-A commercial office properties holds (especially in NYC) and how Mr. Zell ingeniously arranged to sell his baby.
First, as reported by Jennifer S. Forsyth, Henny Sender, and Alex Frangos at the Wall Street Journal, Blackstone has lit the fire under an already-hot real estate market. We are going to see cap rates continue to fall in prime markets such as EOP’s hotspot – midtown Manhattan. Blackstone has already arranged for several properties to be sold to buyers willing to pay a serious premium. Under the terms of the buyout, Blackstone retained the right to market the properties it in-essence had “under contract” by its pending buyout of EOP. Rather than re-hash the details, I suggest you read their article.
The other piece I’d like to highlight is Sam Zell’s savvy negotiation skills. When Blackstone first approached him to buy EOP, rather than accept a high breakup fee if the engagement was never consummated, which is the norm in M&A, he insisted on a relatively low breakup fee. Why? So that other bidders (Vornado) wouldn’t be discouraged by their cost to do the deal, and hence, spark a bidding war. Which is exactly what happened. This was highlighted in an earlier WSJ piece by Henny Sender.
