Industry Briefs, Jan. 6, 2021
Simon Property Group Acquires Taubman Centers
Simon Property Group, Indianapolis, completed its acquisition of an 80 percent ownership interest in The Taubman Realty Group Limited Partnership, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Simon, through its operating partnership Simon Property Group LP, acquired all of Taubman Centers’ common stock for $43.00 per share in cash and the Taubman family sold one-third of its ownership interest at the transaction price and remains a 20 percent partner in TRG.
Total consideration for the acquisition, including the redemption of TCO’s 6.5 percent Series J Cumulative Preferred Shares and its 6.25 percent Series K Cumulative Preferred Shares, was $3.4 billion, funded with existing liquidity, including proceeds from Simon’s recently completed equity offering.
BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Evercore Group, L.L.C. served as financial advisors to Simon. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP were legal advisors.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as financial advisor to Taubman; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Honigman LLP provided legal advice. The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Taubman has retained Lazard as its independent financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as its independent legal counsel.
Marcus & Millichap Acquires LMI Capital
Marcus & Millichap, Calabasas, Calif., acquired the assets of Houston-based LMI Capital.
LMI Capital, founded in 1999, arranges debt and equity capital across all property types including multifamily, office, retail, self-storage, hospitality, mixed-use and industrial. The company serves commercial real estate owners, developers and investors across the Southwest. The firm has background providing capital markets solutions through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The 10-person LMI team has completed more than $1.2 billion in transactions over the last three years.
Freddie Mac: Green Program Cuts Multifamily Energy and Water Consumption
Apartment properties that participate in the Freddie Mac Multifamily Green Advantage program save more than 2.7 million gallons of water and 1.3 million kBtu of energy per year on average, the enterprise said.
Created in 2016, the Green Advantage program provides financing incentives for multifamily borrowers that agree to reduce energy and water consumption.
Freddie Mac Multifamily released a white paper, 2020 Analysis of Green Improvements in Workforce Housing, as part of Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve plan to increase rental and homeownership opportunities in historically underserved markets throughout the nation.
Tenants save $114 per year on average based on reported property data, the report said.
Since the program’s inception through the third quarter of 2020, Freddie Mac Multifamily Green Up and Green Up Plus provided more than $60 billion in financing through loans purchased on nearly 600,000 units. The financed properties are typically garden-style apartments that average 35 years old with 85 percent of units being affordable to households making 100 percent of area median income or less.
FormFree Announces Rebrand, New Website
FormFree, Athens, Ga., launched a new visual identity designed to reflect its mission of empowering consumers and lenders with a transparent view of borrower financial DNA. In tandem with the brand launch, FormFree unveiled a new website that speaks to both consumer and lender audiences about how its AccountChek and Passport platorms enable better financial decisions.
FormFree’s technology verifies and analyzes borrower financial DNA — direct-source asset, income, employment, identity and public records data — to provide an accurate and holistic picture of a borrower’s ability to pay. The new brand and website are at https://www.formfree.com.
Stewart Title Expands Operations in Ohio with Acquisition of NorthStar Title Services
Stewart Title, Houston, acquired the NorthStar Title Services LLC office, Cleveland, Ohio.
Since 2001, NorthStar has been a full-service title company. Stewart will employ the entire NorthStar team.
SimpleNexus Secures $108M in Series B Funding
SimpleNexus, Lehi, Utah, received a follow-on investment of $108 million in Series B funding led by global venture-capital and private-equity firm Insight Partners.
The capital infusion from Insight Partners will help SimpleNexus maintain its growth trajectory. The $108 million capital raise follows Insight Partners’ initial investment of $20 million in SimpleNexus. Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 investments and has supported more than 50 software ScaleUps in the real estate and fintech verticals alone.
