Itchy
You’ve got to love Warren Buffett. In his annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway he lamented that as Berkshire gets bigger and more profitable, he needs more King Kong deals like Burlington Northern last year to show the kind of growth investors have become used to. As he put it, “Our elephant gun has been reloaded and my trigger finger is itchy." He means it, so watch out. Meanwhile, back at the grocery store yesterday, it was announced that Blackstone won the Centro Properties bid to acquire the company’s 588 US grocery-anchored and big box shopping centers, an elephant of a deal that dwarfs Blackstone’s previous bets on the retail recovery. Both stories made me smile because they validate that the recovery is in full force and effect. However, on the real estate front, deal flow is still, at best, moderate, albeit, pricing for core and core-plus assets is shockingly back to pre-2008 levels. At that end of the market it’s becoming super heated, so I hope the elephant gun doesn’t backfire!

Tony LoPinto is a senior client partner and head of Korn//Ferry International’s Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

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