This will be the only post this week from me. This week I’m attending the ULI Spring Meeting in Detroit, MI.
Cheers,
Duff
Perspective
- Clearly there is some disconnect between showing just this chart and the title. Emphasis less on India and more on the gender split of Facebook users.
Worthy Insights / Opinion Pieces / Advice
Bloomberg Businessweek – China Quietly Rolled Out a Very Big Bang – John Micklethwait 4/19
Bloomberg – Latest Climate Threat for Coastal Cities: More Rich People – Christopher Flavelle 4/23
WSJ – Real Estate Stocks Are on Sale but No One Is Buying – Ken Brown 4/27
Markets / Economy
Energy
Reuters – Venezuela faces heavy bill as grace period lapses on China loans – Corina Pons 4/27
Finance
FT – WeWork bond finds home in yield-starved market – Alexandra Scaggs 4/26
- “This week high-yield bond investors faced a puzzle: how to value a bond sold by an unprofitable company that does not own hard assets or offer a clear outlook for its free cash flow?”
- “The company in question was WeWork, the office-sharing company that last year attracted a $4.4bn equity investment from Japan’s Softbank. WeWork, which hired JPMorgan to lead the sale but had more than a dozen other banks working as well, attracted enough demand to increase the sale to $702m from $500m.”
- “Several investors who steered clear of the bond — and one who bought it — said WeWork’s debt was not the type that typically appealed to high-yield investors. But nor was it the first company vowing to disrupt an industry to have found buyers in the junk market. Last year electric carmaker Tesla sold a $1.8bn high-yield bond, and in March, Uber raised $1.5bn in a leveraged loan.”
- “A combination of low interest rates and shrinking supply has made it harder for money managers to find bonds with attractive yields. WeWork’s bonds were sold at a yield of 7.875%.”
Environment / Science
Construction
WSJ – Daily Shot: CME Lumber (Jul) 4/26
China
FT – China’s HNA reports debts have soared to $94bn – Lucy Hornby 4/28
Middle East
Visual Capitalist – Knight Frank: A Time-lapse of Dubai’s Astonishing Growth – Nick Routley 4/28
- Very cool animation.