Trouble in Property Syndicates (TPGI, AVI)

247wallst — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:40:20 +0000

We have two deals which have been called off in the land of mixed use properties as a secondary by Thomas Properties Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPGI) and one was the IPO which was supposed to price from Aviv REIT Inc. (NYSE: AVI).

Thomas Properties Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPGI) announced last night that that it has postponed its secondary offering of 22 million shares of common stock. The reason, “due to unfavorable market conditions.”… management said that it does not consider the current market price of the common stock to be reflective of its inherent value.

Aviv REIT Inc. was supposed to be on the IPO deck. The REIT, real estate investment trust, focuses on healthcare properties. The IPO was on deck to price last night or this morning as the company and shareholders planned to sell 16.6 million shares in an indicated price range of $17 to $19 per share. We had heard only mixed information, and no date nor new effort terms have been indicated.

If you have been tracking how this 2009 IPO market went from Winola to something far worse, this may not be a surprise. Also worth noting is that of the deals we track for 2009 we have more that are busted than those which are higher.

JON C. OGG

Posted in IPOs, REIT, Secondary Offering Tagged: AVI, TPGI

Whitman & Third Avenue Value Fish In Financial Insurers, REITs, Land (ABK, ACGL, LM, MBI, JOE, TPGI, TGIC, USG, VNO)

247wallst — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:27:24 +0000

If there is one seer and age-old timeless veteran in value investing, it is M.J. Whitman. His Third Avenue Management, LLC has filed its 13F with the SEC and it shows he is still (or at least was) betting big on what financial guarantors, land banks, and REIT’s for a portion of his value investing assets. This total filing showed some $11.5 Billion in equity and equivalent positions (not including fixed income). What is interesting is that this is not even all of his holdings out of financial related stocks. But this is still nearly $1.2 Billion in combined assets. Below are a portion of his top holdings:

Stock (Ticker)                                                             Shares          $$$$
Ambac Financial Group (ABK)             2,699,896 $69,576,000
Arch Capital Group Ltd.(ACGL)             1,461,659 $102,828,000
Legg Mason Inc. (LM)                            3,343,553 $244,581,000
MBIA Inc. (MBI)                                        13,773,096 $236,607,000
St. Mary Land & Exploration (SM)          2,620,703 $101,185,000
The St. Joe Company (JOE)                   15,347,635 $54,4995,000
Thomas Properties Group Inc. (TPGI) 2,566,549 $27,667,000
Triad Guaranty Inc (TGIC)                         1,064,023 $10,427,000
USG Corporation (USG)                            5,573,058 $199,460,000
Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)                      1,327,543 $116,757,000

M.J. Whitman and his entire crew readily admit that they do not always catch the bottom. They try to get in before the flood gates of buyers swarm in, and sometimes they are very early and have no problem taking a 3-year or even longer time horizon. But they do try to look through the junk heap to see what can be cleaned up with some TLC. Please be advised that this is a small portion of their holdings, and that full list can be seen here.

Here are the other activist and billionaire value-esque investors we covered this weekend:

Jon C. Ogg
February 19, 2008

24/7 Wall St. » TPGI

Trouble in Property Syndicates (TPGI, AVI)

Whitman & Third Avenue Value Fish In Financial Insurers, REITs, Land (ABK, ACGL, LM, MBI, JOE, TPGI, TGIC, USG, VNO)