User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Westbrook

Westbrook Partners LLC is a New York-based, international real estate private equity firm or Real Estate Investment Trust founded in 1994 that manages several US pension funds. By 2007 Westbrook's seven funds oversaw "assets worth almost $28 billion." "The funds, which typically use 70 percent or more of debt to finance acquisitions, focus on cities such as New York, San Francisco, Paris and Tokyo." “Westbrook identifies "off-market opportunities" with "working income." They "add value" Specializing in sales to cutting, it has offices in New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Palm Beach, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Munich, Paris and Tokyo. From 1992 to 2005, Westbrook has invested across six pension fund, $ 5 billion of shares in real estate transactions totaling $ 20 billion. By 2014 Westbrook raised and invested "approximately $10 billion of equity in $40 billion of real estate transactions" internationally.

By 2005 Westbrook raised its "money from institutional investors, including public and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations and financial institutions." Westbrook's investments "are made in privately negotiated deals or limited-competition transactions."

Founders
Paul Kazilionis and Bill Walton are considered by some to be pioneers in the real estate investment fund business. In 1994, they left Morgan Stanley where they ran the “industry dominating fund operations” for about a decade, to create Westbrook Real Estate Partners LLC through which they continued to “raise and invest capital in real estate.”

In the 1980s they ran Morgan Stanley's industry dominating fund operations.

By 2003 Westbrook Real Estate Partners LLC was managing four funds and it was becoming a challenge “to efficiently invest the vast sums of investor capital they were regularly raising.” After their “amicable split” in 2003, Kazilionis continued on as Westbrook CEO.

History
In her article published in the Wharton Real Estate Review, Douvas describes Westbrook Partners as one of a second wave of new real estate opportunity funds that take advantage of "cycles of distress" or "capital market dislocations" and the "scarcity of capital" or illiquidity over the course of the market cycles. ""After the initial success of the early funds, new funds included: Apollo Real Estate Partners I ($500 million in 1993); Blackstone Real Estate Partners I ($467 million in 1994); Westbrook Fund I (a spin-out from MSREF ($684 million in March 1995; and Brazos Partners, since renamed Lone Star Opportunity Fund ($247 million in March 1995). For the most part, these early opportunity funds achieved large equity multiples and IRRs. For example, Brazos was originally formed as a partnership with the FDIC to purchase and liquidate the "bad bank" assets of American Savings Bank, which had been purchased from the RTC. Brazos resolved more than 1,200 assets in thirty-two states, comprising $2.5 billion of distressed real estate loans and properties, made profits of $150 million; an IRR of 423.2 percent and a 6.5x equity multiple."

From 1992 to 2005, Westbrook has invested across six pension fund, $ 5 billion of shares in real estate transactions totaling $ 20 billion. By 2014 Westbrook raised and invested "approximately $10 billion of equity in $40 billion of real estate transactions" internationally.

Gecina, Paris
In 2002, Westbrook has signed an agreement with Gecina, a real estate investment trust (REIT) subject to the success of the tender offer ongoing Simco. In 2002 Gecina acquired real estate company Simco for 2.2 billion euro doubling its residential division. In 2003, Westbrook has bought 3500 items from the land Gecina, stating its intention to sell the cut. Westbrook, however, opted for resales block in 2007, to cut short the more stringent provisions of the Aurillac Act of June 2006 [2]. It has sold 400-500 Parisian housing at below-market prices (about 30% [3]), of which about 140 French Union Management (UFG), a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe [4] [2 ].

Westbrook bought the hotel in 2006 at Saint-Lazare SOVAFIM, sparking opposition associations poorly housed. [5]

In 2007 when investors were paying record prices for office buildings in London, Westbrook acquired Shell Mex House, an Art Deco style "office building overlooking the Thames river, for about 490 million pounds ($988 million)." The former headquarters of Shell in London, the building, is, grade II listed building, built in 1930-1931 and designed by Ernest Joseph at number 80, Strand, London.

Its sales practices for cutting are controversial: in 2008 in New York, some residents of buildings belonging to Westbrook spoke of "harassment" [8] [9].

Some observers indicated in 2008, for example it does dramatically increase the price of real estate in the East Village and Lower East Side, Manhattan.

Real estate investments
Shell Mex House is an Art Deco style, grade II listed building, built in 1930-1931 and designed by Ernest Joseph at number 80, Strand, London, UK. The building was lsita grade II listed building It was purchased by Westbrook in 2007 for $988 million dollars.

En 2002, Westbrook a signé un accord avec Gecina, conditionné au succès de l'offre publique en cours sur Simco.

En 2003, Westbrook a ainsi acheté 3 500 lots auprès de la foncière Gecina, affirmant son intention de les vendre à la découpe. Westbrook a cependant opté pour des reventes en bloc en 2007, afin de couper court aux dispositions plus contraignantes prévues par la loi Aurillac de juin 2006. Il a ainsi vendu 400 à 500 logements parisiens à des prix inférieurs au marché (environ 30 % ), dont environ 140 à l'Union française de gestion (UFG), une filiale du Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe,.

Elle a acheté en 2006 l'hôtel Saint-Lazare à la SOVAFIM, suscitant l'opposition d'associations de mal-logés.

Elle a racheté en juillet 2007 le siège de Shell, à Londres (le Shell Mex House, un bâtiment art déco), la transaction s'élevant à 988 millions de dollars.

Ses pratiques de vente à la découpe sont controversées: à New York, certains habitants d'immeubles appartenant à Westbrook ont parlé de « harcèlement.»

Certains observateurs signalent par exemple qu'elle fait monter dramatiquement le prix de l'immobilier à East Village et Lower East Side, à Manhattan

Three Borough Portfolio
In 2007 Westbrook Partners and Normandy Real Estate and their partners bought the Three Borough Portfolio which included 1,592 apartments in rent-regulated buildings at the inflated price of $133 million. By 2010, when the owners were unable to raise rents, they defaulted on their mortgage. Foreclosure proceedings began in 2013 and the condition of the buildings deteriorated. By 2012 the buildings in the Three Borough Portfolio, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan, were in foreclosure. In 2014 they were refinanced by Westbrook and Normandy.

A 30-year tenant retiree Ben Warren, who was hospitalized for pneumonia when his building was no longer heated, along with tenants of “41 other rent-regulated buildings with the same owners in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan” began working with Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and South Brooklyn Legal Services early in 2013. In November, they filed their complaints with the attorney general’s office. and brought the owners to court and won. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman reached a settlement with Westbrook Partners and Normandy Real Estate: ""that would require them to make repairs, resolve thousands of building violations and provide tenants with more than $1 million in rebates for illegal fees and overcharges.""

- Bagli NYT 2014