Friday, July 1, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Steel Fabrication & Machining Supplier Opens Facility in McAllen, Texas MSA
The Butler Weldments Corporation, a nationwide & international supplier of custom steel fabrications and machining is pleased to announce the signing of a lease to open a new facility in the McAllen MSA area.
The Butler Weldments Corporation is a versatile steel fabrication and machining business with a 30 year tradition of quality and integrity. They manufacture fabrications in the U.S. and Mexico for a variety of industries including power generation, national defense, construction, petrochemical, mining and various original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s). This new facility, located in the Pharr industrial park, will be its third location and will be a combination warehouse, office space and manufacturing facility dedicated initially to servicing their plant in Rio Bravo, Mexico – across the border from McAllen MSA. The planned processes to be offered at this location include blasting, painting, saw cutting, plasma cutting, beveling and small machining. These services will be provided to the sister plant in Mexico, the corporate headquarters in Cameron, Texas and other potential clients.
“We chose this facility for its strategic location and proximity to the Mexico facility,” said Steven Dobos, President of The Butler Weldments Corporation. “This facility will allow us to take the products we currently manufacture to the next level and provide our existing and potential customers with assembly-ready products and just-in-time delivery.”
Over the past three decades, The Butler Weldments Corporation has expanded and adapted to best serve the changing needs of the manufacturing industry. Their facilities, capable of producing a wide range of products, are centrally located in the United States as well as globally competitive Mexico.
Butler Weldments plans to hire 10 people within the first year of operations and will occupy 15,000 square feet, expecting to expand the facility as more business is added or transferred to this location. McAllen EDC has been working closely with The Butler Weldments Corporation for a number of years in both their existing U.S. and Mexico plants, supporting them in site selection for this new building, lease negotiations, and connecting them to potential customers. Their new Pharr location will be fully operational by the 4th quarter of 2011.
For more information about Butler Weldments Corporation and their products and services, please contact Steven Dobos (254) 697-6416. www.butler-weldments.com
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR ARBY’S, WENDY’S?
JUN 15, 2011 12:31 PM, BY MARK BRANDAU, NATION'S RESTAURANT NEWS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
The $430 million sale of Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. to Roark Capital could be qualified as addition by subtraction for both the 3,600-unit Arby’s and its former sister chain, the 6,600-unit Wendy’s.
Restaurant securities analysts noted that the terms of the brands’ separation — with Arby’s leaving parent company Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc., and Wendy’s remaining — represented a fair value for Arby’s and will allow both chains to go their own ways with fresh infusions of cash.
Atlanta-based Wendy’s/Arby’s Group now can focus solely on Wendy’s growth initiatives, a goal that company executives said motivated the January announcement that Wendy’s/Arby’s Group would seek strategic alternatives for Arby’s. Areas of focus for Wendy’s will include its test of a new breakfast platform, currently in six markets, with a goal of being in 1,000 stores by year-end; expanding internationally to as many as 8,000 locations; and adding as many as 1,000 domestic stores over the next few years, while remodeling many units along the way.
As part of the deal announced Monday, Roark Capital will pay Wendy’s/Arby’s Group $130 million in cash and assume $190 million in Arby’s-related debt. Wendy’s/Arby’s Group also will receive an $80 million tax benefit. The company also retains an 18.5-percent stake in Arby’s, valued at $30 million, letting it still reap any of the upside should Roark successfully turn around the sandwich chain’s business.
As for Arby’s, Roark has announced that it would spend $180 million at the start of the deal, with $130 million going to Wendy’s/Arby’s Group to pay the cash portion of the purchase price and the remaining $50 million earmarked for liquidity and growth capital for the sandwich chain. Roark officials said the private-equity firm would invest an additional $50 million through 2013 to fund more growth opportunities.
Wendy’s gets a cleaner balance sheet
As Wendy’s attempts to grow a significant presence internationally and realize its remaining potential in the United States, the brand should have a healthier balance sheet to do so. The sale’s $130 million cash proceeds and the assumption of $190 million in debt by Roark Capital represents a $320 million swing in Wendy’s net debt-to-earnings ratio.
Though the company would have to forgo Arby’s trailing-12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of $53 million, Wendy’s/Arby’s Group’s debt would fall to 2.2 times EBITDA. The presale ratio is 2.7 debt-to-EBITDA. Following the close of the sale, Wendy’s/Arby’s Group would have $630 million on hand.
Continue reading at NRN.com.
Friday, June 24, 2011
C-III Capital Partners to Acquire NAI Global
After returning from his first NAI Global Leadership Board meeting in NYC, Mike Blum, Managing Partner of NAI Rio Grande Valley, shared some extraordinary news regarding the future of NAI. C-III Capital Partners LLC (C-III) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NAI Global, the largest and premier network of independent commercial real estate firms worldwide.
“We have built the world’s leading commercial real estate network, but we now believe it is time to take the enterprise to a new level and add even greater value to our members and our collective corporate and investment clients. The combination with C-III will provide a depth of resources, talent and tools from which we can draw upon to accelerate our growth,” noted Jeffrey M. Finn, President and CEO of NAI Global.
We are incredibly excited by this deal, C-III will mean great things for out entire network! Stay tuned for more information over the next 2 months.
Press Release from NAI Global
NEW YORK, NY, June 22, 2011 — C-III Capital Partners LLC (C-III) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NAI Global, the largest and premier network of independent commercial real estate firms worldwide. C-III is led by Andrew L. Farkas, who founded and was Chairman and CEO of Insignia Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:IFS). NAI Global will continue to operate as a separate company under its current management following the acquisition.
“We have built the world’s leading commercial real estate network, but we now believe it is time to take the enterprise to a new level and add even greater value to our members and our collective corporate and investment clients. The combination with C-III will provide a depth of resources, talent and tools from which we can draw upon to accelerate our growth,” noted Jeffrey M. Finn, President and CEO of NAI Global.
We are incredibly excited by this deal, C-III will mean great things for out entire network! Stay tuned for more information over the next 2 months.
Press Release from NAI Global
NEW YORK, NY, June 22, 2011 — C-III Capital Partners LLC (C-III) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NAI Global, the largest and premier network of independent commercial real estate firms worldwide. C-III is led by Andrew L. Farkas, who founded and was Chairman and CEO of Insignia Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:IFS). NAI Global will continue to operate as a separate company under its current management following the acquisition.
NAI manages a network of commercial real estate firms comprising 5,000 professionals and 350 offices in the US and 55 countries throughout the world. NAI’s network members provide a full spectrum of corporate, financial, technology and project management services.
“C-III plans to use its asset base, along with strategic acquisitions such as NAI, to create a fully diversified commercial real estate services company,” said Mr. Farkas. “This is the strategy that was successful for Insignia. C-III is led by the same team that built Insignia, and with C-III’s significantly larger asset base, I believe C-III can substantially exceed Insignia’s success,” concluded Mr. Farkas. At its height, Insignia managed $12.5 billion in assets, while today C-III’s portfolio approximates $150 billion in assets. Insignia was one of the largest commercial real estate services companies in the world when it merged with CB Richard Ellis in 2003.
C-III commenced operations with the purchase of Centerline Capital Group’s institutional real estate debt fund management and commercial mortgage loan servicing businesses in March 2010. Since that time, C-III has successfully launched mortgage origination, investment sales and title insurance businesses from scratch, and expanded its principal investment, loan origination fund management and primary and special loan servicing businesses. “Today’s agreement represents a tremendous opportunity for NAI and our members,” said Gerald C. Finn, Chairman of NAI Global. “By teaming up with Andrew Farkas, one of the world’s leading real estate businessmen, we expect NAI will be able to significantly grow its service offerings and present new opportunities to our members.”
“We have built the world’s leading commercial real estate network, but we now believe it is time to take the enterprise to a new level and add even greater value to our members and our collective corporate and investment clients. The combination with C-III will provide a depth of resources, talent and tools from which we can draw upon to accelerate our growth,” noted Jeffrey M. Finn, President and CEO of NAI Global. “Rarely do you find partners so perfectly strategically aligned as NAI Global and C-III. This is a natural fit and extremely exciting news for the industry.”
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
SHOULD APPLE BE CONSIDERED AN ANCHOR?
There is a lot of buzz on the web this week about the possibility of Apple being seen as an anchor for malls and lifestyle centers as opposed to as an inline tenant. The Wall Street Journal was the first to raise the issue, noting that Apple brings in revenues and shopper traffic that are actually more robust than those of traditional department store anchors, like Macy’s or Sears.The Journal notes:
In Apple’s fiscal year through September, it had sales of $34.1 million per retail store. Macy’s much larger stores generated $29 million on average in sales last year, and J.C. Penney, just $16.1 million, estimates Michael Exstein of Credit Suisse.
The story’s premise hinges on two pieces of data—both of which seem to come straight from Apple. The story is pitched as if the Journal has dug around and discovered Apple’s secret sauce. But it almost reads as if Apple may have planted the idea itself, as a way of getting the discussion going.
Here’s the key paragraph:
More people now visit Apple’s 326 stores in a single quarter than the 60 million who visited Walt Disney Co.’s four biggest theme parks last year, according to data from Apple and the Themed Entertainment Association. Apple’s annual retail sales per square foot have soared to $4,406—excluding online sales, according to investment bank Needham & Co. Add in online sales, which include iTunes, and the number jumps to $5,914. That’s far higher than the sales per square foot and online sales of jeweler Tiffany & Co. ($3,070), luxury retailer Coach Inc. ($1,776), and electronics retailer Best Buy Co. ($880), according to estimates.
That figure jibes with some talk at last week’s NAREIT convention. Specifically, according to Edward Glickman, president and CEO of regional mall REIT PREIT, Apple’s sales per square foot tend to be 30 times higherthan those of its competitors.
Meanwhile, according to comments made by Glimcher Realty Trust Chairman & CEO Michael Glimcher during last week’s NAREIT conference, adding an Apple store to Glimcher’s Polaris Center property in Columbus, Ohio will boost the overall mall’s sales-per-square-foot average by $50.
Meanwhile, according to comments made by Glimcher Realty Trust Chairman & CEO Michael Glimcher during last week’s NAREIT conference, adding an Apple store to Glimcher’s Polaris Center property in Columbus, Ohio will boost the overall mall’s sales-per-square-foot average by $50.
Of course, the importance of that figure is that a mall’s average sales-per-square-foot is one of the factors that determines how much rent a landlord can charge. So adding an Apple store can be a huge coup in terms of eventually driving rents upwards.
To put the $4,406 sales-per-square-foot figure into additional perspective, the sales per square foot average at regional malls peaked in 2007, when the monthly average was $415.71 per square foot, according to ICSC. Last year the figure was $386.43 per square foot and through March of this yearthe number is $400 per square foot.
Drilling down a bit, sales at entertainment and electronics retailers average $1,275 per square foot as a group. Clearly Apple is driving that number. And it’s also clear that Apple vastly outperforms its peers. Overall, Apple’s figure is 10 times the average for most mall tenants and about four times the average for all entertainment and electronics retailers.
Lastly, nobody can argue that the brand does an excellent job of running its stores, complete with first rate customer service and marketing buzz surrounding new product launches.
So you look at all that, and the case that Apple should be treated as an anchor seems pretty compelling. Yet as the blog Passions of a Zealot points out, as an inline tenant Apple pays many times the amount of rentthat a department store would. Some people question whether the brand shouldn’t be elevated to anchor status because of the traffic it draws, complete with more favorable rental rates.
But there are other points to consider.
Mall anchors don’t just serve as a point of attraction for customers. By signing extra long-term leases for huge amounts of space they help property owners secure financing from lenders, according to this storyfrom CNBC. Plus, department stores spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising out of their own pocket, which helps bring more shoppers to the mall.
Traditional anchors such as Macy’s [M 27.00 -0.29 (-1.06%) ] and J.C. Penney [JCP 34.11 -0.01 (-0.03%) ] do a large amount of local advertising, which helps to publicize the mall for its operators. They also sponsor community events.“When is the last time you saw Apple do that?” asked Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.
Regardless of whether Apple can successfully convince its landlords that it should be viewed as an anchor in its own right, the brand is ...
Austin firm plans three S. Texas wind farms
Austin Business Journal
Date: Friday, June 17, 2011, 1:09pm CDTOfficials at the Austin-based company said the wind farms are planned on more than 60,000 acres of submerged land under lease from the Texas General Land Office. The projects would generate up to 3 gigawatts (or 3,000 megawatts) of electricity — enough to power about 1.2 million homes.
Rio South Texas Economic Council has been recruiting renewable energy companies, such as Duke Energy, into the area to develop wind farm projects, officials said.
Baryonyx, which was founded May 2009, employs eight workers.
The company was founded to meet the power requirements of energy intensive industries through renewable energy resources, principally that of wind power, according to its website.
Posted by Ashley Furness. afurness@bizjournals.com
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