Real estate boutique formed in JV
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FTI Consulting and Compass Advisers have established a new investment banking firm dedicated exclusively to the global real estate sector. The joint venture - called EdgeRock Realty Advisors - will build on FTI's growing market leadership in the real estate sector, which expanded with its acquisition of The Schonbraun McCann Group in 2008.
EdgeRock will leverage its strategic partners' expertise in real estate, capital markets and restructuring, the two firms say. EdgeRock will advise real estate companies, owners and institutional investors on M&A and divestiture transactions, private capital raising, and IPO and other capital markets strategies, while also providing clients with access to FTI's industry-leading restructuring and real estate capital markets advisory expertise.
Serving as co-ceo's of EdgeRock are Bruce Schonbraun, currently senior md and head of global real estate for FTI Consulting, and Stephen Waters, the founder and managing partner at Compass Advisers. In addition, David Lazarus, formerly md in the global real estate group of Lehman Brothers/Barclays Capital, will serve as a senior md.
The company says it has already engaged with several clients for ongoing advisory assignments and is actively recruiting professionals for its New York office.
Waters notes: "Over the past 18 months, the traditional investment banking landscape has experienced significant disruption, which has served to reinforce the need for - and value of - independent advisors like EdgeRock. I am thrilled by the prospects of this new venture, which will bring the values of independence, trust and discretion to clients in the global real estate market. The combination of FTI's global breadth, deep real estate knowledge and restructuring prowess makes them the ideal partner to create a winning investment banking platform for a market as complex and dynamic as global real estate."
??wt???ƒ Pactiv's 6.4s of Jan 2018 bond trades with a z-spread closer to 220bp, leaving a much tighter negative basis package. We are neutral to positive on Pactiv's CDS and would actually prefer to own its bond outright rather than in a negative basis package. On the riskier end, though IP and WY bonds trade with z-spreads roughly 50bp-75bp wider than MWV's, both companies' O?SG????close to double that of MWV's. The negative basis on the Weyerhaeuser bond is roughly equivalent to that of MWV's in absolute terms; however, the lower spread issuer offers the better risk/reward characteristics. From a fundamental standpoint, we hold a negative view on MWV's CDS spread at 80bp. MWV's CDS could easily trade much more in line with International Paper's.