美国商用房地产吸引“抄底”投资者

The beleaguered US commercial real estate sector has been attracting a new wave of money from sources including foreign banks, US private equity firms, and a leading Chinese sovereign wealth fund.

陷入困境的美国商用房地产业正吸引新一轮投资，资金来源包括外国银行、美国私人股本公司及一家中国主权财富基金。

Market participants warn that the activity represents “bottom-feeding” by opportunistic investors whose strategies could be derailed by rising interest rates. Also, sums are tiny compared with the debts that need refinancing.

市场参与者警告称，此类交易标志着机会主义的投资者正在“抄底”， 他们的战略可能会因为利率提升而改变。此外，与需要再融资的债务相比，本轮投资总额也相当小。

Nevertheless, the growing interest from investors is a sign of stabilisation, making it less likely that worsening commercial real estate conditions will sink banks and choke off a US recovery..

尽管如此，投资者兴趣渐浓是商用房地产企稳的一个信号，使该行业形势恶化拖垮银行、威胁到美国经济复苏的可能性有所下降。

“We believe the real story is that capital is ready to buy, even though it may not be so visible today,” says Bob Steers, co-chairman of Cohen & Steers, a real estate investment firm.

房地产投资公司Cohen & Steers联席董事长鲍勃•斯蒂尔斯(Bob Steers)表示：“我们相信，事实是资金已做好购买准备，尽管目前趋势可能尚不太明朗。”

Recently, state-owned China Investment Corporation has enlisted Cohen & Steers, Angelo Gordon and Morgan Stanley to identify commercial real estate opportunities, people familiar with the matter say.

据知情人士表示，最近，国有的中国投资公司(China Investment Corporation)已聘请Cohen & Steers、安祖高顿(Angelo Gordon)及摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)，物色商用房地产投资机会。

A public sign of such activity came on Friday when Colony Capital won a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation auction for $1bn of commercial property loans formerly held by failed banks in states hit hard by the real estate downturn.

这一趋势的一个公开信号出现在上周五。洛杉矶投资公司柯罗尼资本(Colony Capital)成功竞购了美国联邦存款保险公司(FDIC) 10亿美元商用房地产贷款。 此前，这些贷款由美国深受房地产低迷冲击的州立银行持有。

The deal valued the loans at 44 cents on the dollar and was structured so the FDIC contributes $136m and holds 60 per cent of the equity, while Colony, a Los Angeles investment firm, puts in $90m for the remaining 40 per cent.

该交易对这些贷款的估值为面值的44%，根据交易安排，FDIC将贡献1.36亿美元，持有贷款总额60%的权益，而柯罗尼则投资9000万美元，拥有其余的40%。

Tom Barrack, Colony founder, called the investment “an implicit bet that rates stay low” and warned: “If rates go up, everyone will be crushed.”

柯罗尼创始人汤姆•巴拉克(Tom Barrack)称这笔投资是“有关利率将维持低位的隐含押注，”并警告称：“如果利率升高，大家都会被压垮。”

Earlier last week, SL Green, a real estate investment trust, said it had refinanced a Times Square tower it owns with Canada's Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec in a $475m dealed by Bank of China.

上周早些时候，房地产投资信托基金SL Green表示，已与中国银行(BoC)达成一项4.75亿美元的协议，为其与加拿大魁北克储蓄投资集团(Caisse de Ddpot et Placement du Quebec)共同拥有的纽约时代广场一座高楼再融资。

In December, JPMorgan Chase raised $625m for Inland Western, a real estate investment trust, of which $500m was in the form of securities backed by commercial real estate assets.

去年12月，摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)为美国伊利诺斯州零售房地产信托基金(Inland Western)融资6.25亿美元，其中5亿美元采用商用房地产资产支持的证券形式。