BEVERLY HILLS, CA-International real estate investment and services firm Kennedy Wilson, based in Beverly Hills, CA, has been pretty busy as of late. Not only did it form a $278-million investment partnership with subsidiaries of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. to pursue acquisitions of real estate assets, including loans and real property, but the company also was recently retained to auction an $80.9 million commercial REO portfolio for a major financial institution.
For the partnership, the firm has committed 10% of the equity and will manage the partnership. The partnership has also completed its first major transaction, buying a 65% interest in a Japanese apartment company that has total real estate assets of approximately $600 million. Kennedy Wilson previously owned the other 35% of the Japanese company. There are 50 apartment buildings in the company and, by value, 70% of the apartments are located in Tokyo.
“Kennedy Wilson has been doing business in Japanese real estate since 1992 and, in a separate venture, was one of the first US real estate companies to go public in Japan in 2002,” chairman and CEO of Kennedy Wilson, William McMorrow says. “We are extremely pleased to have completed our first real estate transaction with Fairfax and look forward to pursuing many deals together in the future.”
Fairfax Financial’s chairman and CEO, Prem Watsa, points out that “Kennedy Wilson has an extensive and successful track record in Japan, and we are very pleased to now become partners with the outstanding Kennedy Wilson management team on the deal level in addition to our prior investments at the corporate level.” In addition to the Japan acquisition, Fairfax has previously invested $132.5 million in Series A and B convertible preferred stock of Kennedy Wilson. Including this acquisition, year-to-date, Kennedy Wilson in conjunction with its partners has acquired over $1.65 billion of multifamily assets and loans secured by real estate predominately in California, Washington, Hawaii and Japan.
Both sources and Kennedy Wilson couldn’t confirm at this point who the “major financial institution” was that retained KW to conduct an auction for $80.9 million of bank-owned REO properties. However, the portfolio consists of 12 properties in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Oregon and includes class A office buildings, retail centers, commercial land and oceanfront residential land.
Rhett Winchell, president of Kennedy Wilson’s auction group, described the auction as “another exclusive offering in a long series of commercial auctions.” He adds that, “Kennedy Wilson has over 30 years of experience in conducting residential and commercial auctions, and our recent offerings have identified substantial numbers of buyers seeking new investments through our auction platform.”
Kennedy Wilson has also been hired to auction a $75 million portfolio of commercial properties in the fourth quarter of this year.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
