Morgan Stanley's $5.4 billion hit

Can someone help me out? How can the expected return from the commercial real estate be "0". At the very least the property must be worth something so they can sell it right? Why did they for example give an entire portfolio of properties to Barclays / RBS for 1 euro?

Original Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303…

 

First, their fund was $8.8b so it's not a total loss on their capital. Second, do you understand the concept of capital structure at all? If I'm sitting in the equity or mezz, a 20% decrease in value could make my position completely worthless.

As for why they would just hand it over for an euro, I would imagine because they don't see any scenario in which paying future upkeep costs/renovation/etc. would make it profitable and it's simpler and easier to just get rid of the position.

 

Holding onto real estate without paying tenants is pretty costly. Taxes and maintenance must still be paid. If you look at value as whatever the market is willing to pay I suppose you could value properties at zero. With such a saturation, reduction in credit and the current economy having large office space unused is a huge liability.

 

One side note, sort of alluded to above, is the specific nature of commercial RE. A lot of places are funded with the assumption that they will re apply for a loan to take out the previous construction loan at a certain point. I don't know enough to really go deep into it, but RE financing is specific with a bunch of nuances.

 
breakinginnew:
i'd assume they took out debt against the properties and now the assets negative equity

that's probably what happened. i had to underwrite a couple of investments that were debt financed by msref, both SIGNIFICANTLY upside down. so i am assuming that that is the situation that most of their investments are in.

msref is in UNUSUALLY bad shape, relative to every other cre player. if losing money was an olympic sport, then msref would get a gold medal. their bonuses should be clawed back.

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 

Because they are not losing $5.4Bn...they are losing 20% (? I think the article said 20%) or whatever MS's firm committed amount is. And they are telling their investors this now (their fund investors, or LPs, not stockholders), which means they took the write-down already. Duh.

 

on a side note, this may be a harbinger for financial armageddon. losses like this could translate to the commercial banking sector (which btw still refuses to realize tangible losses in cre), then that could feasibly trigger another major financial shit storm. i posted something about this a while back.

correct me if im wrong.

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 
mr1234:
,,,could translate to the commercial banking sector (which btw still refuses to realize tangible losses in cre)

exactly. pretend and extend! kick the can down the road! we'll see how CMBS defaults go over the course of the year

 
mr1234:
on a side note, this may be a harbinger for financial armageddon. losses like this could translate to the commercial banking sector (which btw still refuses to realize tangible losses in cre), then that could feasibly trigger another major financial shit storm. i posted something about this a while back.

correct me if im wrong.

response to my own post:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/richard-koo-says-if-banks-marked-comme…

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 

Msref VII Global!!!!

i saw a marketing memo of a manager trying to raise money for a distress/opportunity fund last year, it was funny because they were using previous LPs as track record to raise the next LP. For one of the previous, the initial projected IRR was18%- 20%, but the actual current IRR was ~0%, with ~3 more years of lock up, and a few of the projects wont ever see profit. But somehow they still raised money for the next LP.

Similar to MSREF, Goldman's Whitehall isn't doing so great either, but I think the losses on these funds have mostly been accounted for; it's pretty clear cut when all the investments are worth 0. The problem is with the commercial lenders that have portfolios of loans that will never be repaid, but still not written down from the balance sheet, and they wont as long as they are not forced to mark to market.

 
noexplode:
Msref VII Global!!!!

i saw a marketing memo of a manager trying to raise money for a distress/opportunity fund last year, it was funny because they were using previous LPs as track record to raise the next LP. For one of the previous, the initial projected IRR was18%- 20%, but the actual current IRR was ~0%, with ~3 more years of lock up, and a few of the projects wont ever see profit. But somehow they still raised money for the next LP.

LP's trying to recoup losses by investing in distressed cre. sounds counter-intuitive, but it is what it is.

personally i dont have any faith in cre appreciation for the near-term. demand was driven by the debt mkts, and that shit storm still hasnt passed.

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 
Best Response

Perferendis magni nobis voluptatibus eos nesciunt qui vitae. Expedita labore deleniti labore consequatur ut ut rerum. Ad accusantium omnis dignissimos ad voluptatem consequatur blanditiis cumque. Omnis porro optio porro soluta ea quia adipisci. Eveniet nemo dolores natus quia.

Autem temporibus rerum consequatur nesciunt. Velit est ullam suscipit placeat neque repellendus.

Deserunt qui minus nihil accusantium. Omnis reprehenderit quia cumque nam. Suscipit fuga accusantium non quisquam fuga officia consequatur. Pariatur blanditiis quia iure accusantium.

 

Quo ratione ea hic id id aut illo. Cupiditate doloribus minima corporis temporibus qui vel minus.

Et quia corrupti quis dolor odio rerum. Eum minima corrupti ea delectus. Impedit enim voluptates earum rerum.

Molestias consequatur aperiam ratione animi aut. Architecto saepe dolorum consequatur ut minima est doloribus. Voluptates voluptas dignissimos blanditiis ea perferendis consequuntur. Numquam omnis debitis dolores veritatis molestiae ut. Ipsam ex et velit labore.

Id magni aperiam laudantium est facere perspiciatis et delectus. Nihil quae dolores sit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”