Re: Quelle? Artikel bei bloomberg

verfasst von Cosa, 23.08.2002, 11:55

-->Moin,

dazu kam gestern ein Bericht bei bloomberg.com

08/22 15:32
Reports of Saudi Property Sales Built on Sand: Caroline Baum
By Caroline Baum

New York, Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The story about a mass exodus of Saudi
funds from the U.S. was still going strong on cable news networks last night,
triggered by a thinly supported report in Wednesday's Financial Times. The FT
quoted some hardly disinterested parties saying the Saudis had withdrawn
money from the U.S. because of a loss of confidence.

The source of the comment on the Saudis' disaffection with the U.S. was Beshr
Bakheet, managing director of Riyadh-based Bakheet Financial Advisors and no
stranger to anti-American propaganda. In November 2000, Bakheet encouraged
an Arab boycott of McDonald's Corp. and other U.S. companies, an effort that
was backed by fatwas, or religious edicts, from Muslim clerics, according to a
Nov. 30, 2000, Associated Press story. The fatwa tarred Pepsi as an acronym
for ``Pay Every Penny to Save Israel.''

The AP was quick to mention that Pepsi was one of the ``many multinationals
refusing to do business in the state of Israel during the 40-year Arab
commercial boycott of the Jewish state.''

As for Bakheet, he told Arabs to use their ``financial stones'' to pressure nations
friendly to Israel, according to AP. ``These are American products; don't buy
them,'' Bakheet said in the AP story, along with a call for an Arab oil embargo.

It wouldn't be a big leap of faith to conclude that Bakheet was engaging in some
stone throwing of his own in threatening a Saudi exodus from the U.S.

Princely Duty

One Saudi, at least, will have none of it. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the
world's 11th richest person and the largest single shareholder in Citigroup Inc.,
said he had no intention of selling his U.S. holdings and discouraged fellow
Arabs from dumping U.S. assets. ``If anything, I'm looking to buy if the
opportunity arises,'' the Prince told Bloomberg News.

He dismissed the estimates of $200 billion of Saudi money leaving U.S. shores.

On paper, Bakheet has a decent resume, with a bachelor's degree in
mathematics from Ohio University and a master's in administration engineering
from Keio University in Tokyo. He held various positions at Hoare Govett, UBS
and Credit Suisse Asset Management from 1988 to 1993, when he started his
own independent advisory firm, according to the Web site.

One Saudi national challenged my challenge to the FT's figures in yesterday's
column, claiming the majority of Saudi money in the U.S. is held in two kinds of
investments: financial assets and real estate.

Landed Gentry

I dealt with financial assets in yesterday's column. There's no indication from the
Treasury International Capital statistics to support the FT's contention of massive
Saudi stock and bond sales. As far as real estate is concerned, the Saudi reader
said that given its illiquid nature, the Saudis would certainly not be allocating new
funds to the U.S. property market.

I decided to poke around in commercial real estate circles.

Robert M. White Jr., president of Real Capital Analytics, which tracks investment
sales and capital flows in the commercial real estate market, said that the
Saudis have been particularly active recently -- on the buy side!

``There's been a substantial increase in purchases in the last six months,'' White
says. ``Middle Eastern investors have bought about $750 million of U.S. real
estate, predominantly office buildings, directly or through joint ventures, this
year.'' That includes actual purchases and properties under contract. ``It may be
a low estimate since they sometimes use someone to front for them,'' White
adds.

Acquisitive Mode

The figures for the Middle East include other countries besides Saudi Arabia:
Israel, for example. Both countries have been big buyers, White says. He pointed
to ``fairly substantial acquisitions'' by Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment
group, this year.

In April, Investcorp acquired 150 Fifth Avenue and Metropolitan Tower on West
57th Street in New York City. The following month, the investment group paid
$125 million for a 70 percent stake in a Chicago office tower on North Michigan
Avenue. That was the fifth office purchase this year.

Recently, Investcorp bought a stake in 685 Third Avenue, according to White.

Other real estate brokers were equally dismissive of the idea that the Saudis
were liquidating real estate holdings in the U.S.

While there are no guarantees the threats of asset sales won't be realized in the
future, at this point it appears rumors of Saudi dumping are greatly exaggerated.

Gruss
Cosa

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gesamter Thread:

• saudischer Großinvestor dementierte die Meldungen der FT, Saudis würden... - peter72, 23.08.2002, 10:12
  • Quelle? Geht es vielleicht etwas konkreter?"ein saud.Großinvestor"!!??? owT - spieler, 23.08.2002, 11:00
    • @koenigin; Nicht, dass Dein Königs-Nachbar mit Euros um Asyl bittet.....??!! - foreveryoung, 23.08.2002, 11:51
      • Re: @koenigin; Nicht, dass Dein Königs-Nachbar mit Euros um Asyl bittet.....??!! - patrick, 23.08.2002, 14:52
      • Re: @koenigin; Nicht, dass Dein Königs-Nachbar mit Euros um Asyl bittet.....??!! - --- ELLI ---, 23.08.2002, 16:29
        • @elli: Ihr könnt Euch ja auf dessen Jacht ''Abduhl-Aziz'' - Koenigin, 23.08.2002, 18:49
          • Re: @elli: Ihr könnt Euch ja auf dessen Jacht ''Abduhl-Aziz'' - --- ELLI ---, 24.08.2002, 13:44
    • Re: Quelle? Artikel bei bloomberg - Cosa, 23.08.2002, 11:55
    • gestern auch bei bbc WBR. (oT) (owT) - igelei, 23.08.2002, 12:34
      • die Frage ist aber, ob man es glauben sollte... mkT - igelei, 23.08.2002, 12:38