News
MERRIGAN'S IRON IS HOT
December 12, 2011
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| Taurus Investment Holdings? CEO Peter Merrigan made a splash a few months ago selling a collection of 28 Newbury Street buildings for $226M to Jamestown, beating his own expectations on price and timing. Taurus, which holds $2B in assets, isn't resting. On Thursday, the firm (in a JV with GI Partners and Rowan Asset Management) paid $132M for a London office building; a B asset in an A location. Last week, Taurus also sold its Canadian Cookstown Mall plus land to the RioCan REIT for $62M. Peter plans to close this week on a $53M, 335k SF logistics complex in Frankfort (fully leased, airport location) and is building a $260M mall office complex in Ankara, Turkey. | |
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| Taurus president Erik Rijnbout and SVP Philip Rauh are among the firm leadership that helped devise the Newbury Street aggregation strategy in a JV with Urban Meritage. Peter says in ?05, they started buying some of the 197 buildings from the 167 different owners. With 28 buildings, he says, they had assembled enough critical mass to create a brand, the Newbury Line, that appealed to international retailers and once filled, became a core asset. Peter says Boston is one of the 24/7 urban markets with high barriers that Taurus likes in North America, Western Europe, and emerging economies. (These are also excellent locations for the next James Bond movie.) | |
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| We snapped Taurus associates Nick Clark (standing), John Carroll and Dimitriy Iokhvid who help execute Taurus? plans. Peter aims for a portfolio equally divided into thirds between: the US, Europe and emerging markets. The strategy is to upgrade mismanaged or poorly capitalized product to institutional quality. He likes developing nations when they're stable and transparent; so, that's a yes to Turkey and a no to Russia. Generally, he aims for a 5-year hold except when buyer demand is irresistible a la Newbury Street. Peter?s major concern for the world economies: still too much sovereign, corporate and individual debt to shed. He senses that Europe will stabilize in the next 12 months, although some uncertainty may remain. |
