Reuters News

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management will be the largest single commercial property owner in New York City after its US$11.4 billion buy of Forest City Realty Trust Inc closes in coming days, Reuters reported, citing a Brookfield official. Its New York assets will top 36 million square feet after the Forest City deal closes, surpassing Vornado Realty Trust, according to data from CoStar Group Inc and Brookfield. Brookfield, which historically has been known for office holdings, now has a sizable slice in the retail and apartment sectors, a growing presence in hotels, logistical and warehouse assets, student housing and manufacturing housing.

Glass Lewis & Co has recommended voting against the reappointment of Detour Gold Corp Chairman Alex Morrison and one more member, while adding an additional nominee from Paulson & Co, instead of a board overhaul pushed by the U.S. activist investment firm, Reuters reported. “We ultimately see validity in Paulson’s central thesis that, for substantive change to take hold at the company, certain of the core and long-term directors who have presided over value destruction and overseen technical failures of prior mine plans need to be replaced,” Glass Lewis said. Paulson has about 6 percent stake in Detour. The company is under pressure from two other investors to overhaul its board and consider a sale.

Thomson Reuters Corp said it will cut its workforce by 12 percent in the next two years, axing 3,200 jobs, as part of a plan to streamline the business and reduce cost, Reuters reported. The company, which is focusing on its legal and tax businesses following the sale of a 55-percent stake in its Financial & Risk (F&R) unit to U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, declined to say where the job cuts were being made. The company aims to grow annual sales by 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent by 2020, excluding the impact of any acquisitions. It has set aside US$2 billion of the US$17 billion proceeds from the Blackstone deal to make purchases to help grow its legal and tax businesses.

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) has advised shareholders to vote for Detour Gold Corp’s refreshed board of directors at an upcoming shareholders’ meeting, stopping short of more aggressive changes demanded by U.S. activist investor Paulson & Co, Reuters reported. Detour’s management has been resisting Paulson’s call for an overall of the board and immediate dismissal of interim CEO Michael Kenyon. Paulson, which has a stake of about 6 percent in the miner, said it did not believe ISS had gone far enough in its recommendation. Detour is under pressure from two other investors, Coast Capital Management LP and Livermore Partners, to overhaul its board and consider a sale.

Neiman Marcus Group Ltd, the U.S. luxury retailer facing a US$2.8 billion loan coming due in two years, has failed to reach an agreement with its noteholders and term lenders to restructure its debt, Reuters reported. The company said in a regulatory filing it was actively pursuing opportunities to improve its capital structure. If it was not able to ink a deal with creditors, its financial condition would be adversely affected, Neiman Marcus said. Neiman Marcus was acquired in 2013 by U.S. private equity firm Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for US$6 billion.

Telecoms and cable group Altice Europe said its French unit had agreed to sell a 49.99 percent stake in its SFR FTTH fibre optic business to three investment funds for 1.8 billion euros (US$2.05 billion), Reuters reported. Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers and OMERS Infrastructure were investing in the unit, Altice said, in a deal that valued the division as a whole at 3.6 billion euros. The consortium was led by OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). Earlier this month, Reuters reported several groups were bidding for the Altice France fibre network business, including one led by KKR.

Depressed Canadian oil prices are forcing energy companies to use their shares as a currency to fund acquisitions, but investors have been hard to win over to the strategy, Reuters reported. Unusually large price discounts for crude, due to clogged pipelines, and faltering prices have made growth hard to realize. Some producers have reduced output and lower cash flow has left consolidation using stock as the main option. The Canadian oil patch has made 29 deals so far in the second half, worth US$9.5 billion, the busiest half-year period since the first half of 2017. Further deals may have to rely on shares and private equity, said Andy Mah, CEO of Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd.

A consortium led by the biggest investor in Intu Properties has scrapped a 2.9 billion-pound bid for the shopping centre owner, Reuters reported. Peel Group, which is the investment vehicle of Intu’s deputy chairman and major investor John Whittaker, Canada's Brookfield Asset Management and Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group said that macroeconomic uncertainty and potential market volatility meant they could not submit an offer for the London-listed business within the timetable set by Britain’s Takeover Code. This is the second time in less than a year a takeover for Intu has collapsed, sending its shares to a record low.