WCI Slides After Rejecting Bid [South Florida]

WCI Slides After Rejecting Bid [South Florida]

When billionaire activist Carl Icahn proposed a $22-a-share buyout of WCI Communities Inc., the Bonita Springs, Fla., home builder rebuffed him in hopes of finding a richer suitor.

But as the housing market continues to slide, along with WCI’s stock price, it looks as if WCI should have gotten hitched.

Since the company put itself on the market in April, the nation’s housing picture has grown even more grim. Inventory is piling up as interest rates and foreclosure counts rise. Things got worse in mid-June after Bear Stearns Cos. acknowledged reports that two of its hedge funds gambled and lost on risky mortgages. The losses fueled concerns about the housing sector and created a tougher environment for financing a purchase of WCI and its nearly $2 billion debt.

The company pushed its June 15 annual meeting back to Aug. 30 so it could entertain further offers. Since its close before its June 12 announcement that it was delaying the meeting, the stock has fallen almost 21%, including a 5.1% drop yesterday to $16.40. Under Mr. Icahn’s now-expired $921 million offer, shareholders would have pocketed a 16% premium.

Commercial sales signal active market

Commercial sales signal active market

A spate of recent sales illustrate that while the region’s residential market remains sluggish, commercial real estate here continues to be highly sought after.

The trend of recent transactions, involving nearly a half-dozen high-profile properties, also underscores how capital is still flocking to land and buildings.

The transactions involve the former Cheetah Technologies building in Manatee County; Horizon Mortgage Corp.’s headquarters in Towles Court in Sarasota; the 294-room Hyatt Sarasota; one of a pair of former Arthur Andersen structures on Fruitville Road; and a swath of beachfront land on Siesta Key.

In all, the deals involve a total of $130 million.

Briny backer finds himself in middle of mortgage mess

Briny backer finds himself in middle of mortgage mess

John Devaney, the deep-pocketed, high-flying trader who’s lead financier for the $510 million purchase of Briny Breezes, is facing a financial squeeze after a series of bad bets on the subprime mortgage market.

Angry neighbors and skeptical regulators had been the biggest obstacle to a development team’s plans for an ambitious redevelopment at the oceanfront mobile home park. Now, though, some wonder whether Briny Breezes’ buyers will have to look elsewhere for financing.

Devaney’s company, Key Biscayne-based United Capital Markets Holdings, acknowledged this week that it has suffered “significant losses” on its risky subprime mortgage trades. The company has taken the unusual step of not allowing investors to cash out of four of its hedge funds.

United Capital spokesman Michael Gregory on Friday said there was no cause for concern. He said United Real Estate Ventures, the company investing in Briny Breezes, is separate from United Capital Markets, although both are owned by Devaney.

Investors: Few deals at foreclosure auction [South Florida]

Investors: Few deals at foreclosure auction [South Florida]

Investor Tony Barquin shifted amid the crowd in the stuffy auction room at the Miami-Dade County Clerk’s office Thursday, pondering which among scores of homes in foreclosure he might bid to buy.

As more and more homeowners can’t pay their mortgages, the number of properties hitting the auction block has skyrocketed. So Barquin’s business should be booming. But Barquin said fewer are worth buying. He left the auction empty-handed.

”Everything is upside down here,” he complained, describing homes worth less than the debt on them. “In a month, there might be only a few really good deals.”

The result: Lenders reluctant to take deep losses are taking properties back in greater numbers in hopes of selling them later for more money.

Mortgage Mess Shines Light on Brokers’ Role

Mortgage Mess Shines Light on Brokers’ Role

In 2005, World Savings Bank honored Secure Financial Inc. with a “Top Broker Award.” It was a tribute to the sales prowess of Zak Khan, who arranged more than a hundred mortgages out of the small real-estate firm’s Union City, Calif., office.

But Mr. Khan, a onetime professional cricket player, wasn’t all he seemed. For starters, his real name is Altaf A. Shaikh. Contrary to California law, he never held a license to broker mortgage loans. Still, he managed to find jobs at a variety of mortgage firms since 1997, leaving a trail of unhappy borrowers and a lengthening list of criminal charges and lawsuits filed against him.

As defaults pummel the home-loan industry, Mr. Shaikh represents an extreme case of one of the big vulnerabilities in the business: mortgage brokers. In recent years, these middlemen have assumed a crucial role in handling surging volumes of business for lenders. Today, mortgage brokers are involved in about 58% of home loans, up from 40% a decade ago, according to Wholesale Access, a research firm in Columbia, Md.

Texas Resort Avoids Foreclosure

Texas Resort Avoids Foreclosure

A West Texas resort billed by its owner as an exclusive desert getaway for the rich and famous has filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

The eight-page filing in federal court in Midland on Monday came a day before a Connecticut real estate loan company was set to foreclose on an unpaid $12.5 million loan and sell at auction the 25,000-acre Lajitas, the Ultimate Hideout resort.

According to the Chapter 11 filing, Lajitas Resort Ltd. claims it owes more than $1 million to its top 20 largest unsecured creditors, including about $40,000 to the Golf Channel, a unit of Comcast Corp.The debt to Prime Assets Funding, the Greenwich, Conn., company that lent Lajitas the $12.5 million more than a year ago, was not listed in the filing.

Steve Smith, an Austin multimillionaire, bought the property at auction in 2000 for about $4.5 million. Smith did not return a cell phone message Monday.