IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) has a partner in its purchase of the HSBC US headquarters in Manhattan: Midtown Equities LLC, today published an announcement presenting itself as IDB's partner in the deal.
IDB units Property and Building Ltd. (TASE: PTBL) and Koor Industries Ltd. (TASE:KOR) bought the Fifth Avenue building for $330 million from HSBC Holdings plc (LSE:HSBA; HKSE: 005; NYSE, Paris: HBC) in cash in a buy and lease-back deal.
Midtown Equities chairman Joe Cayre said, “I was genuinely impressed by the manner in which IDB conducts its business. They are not only consummate professionals, but honorable in all of their dealings.”
IDB chairman and CEO Nochi Dankner and Cayre added that they were pleased to have achieved their first deal together in the US and that they look forward to a long, and mutually beneficial relationship between the two companies.
Cayre founded Midtown Equities in 2002. Midtown Equities will have no stake in the HSBC Tower, but received part of the broker's fee for the deal. Property and Building and Koor's notices to the TASE said that they paid $18 million broker's fee. Some of that went to Midtown Equities.
Midtown Equities is a partner in several properties in Manhattan, including buildings on Fifth Avenue, and the World Trade Center, as well as luxury residential projects in New York and Baltimore.
Property and Building's share rose 2.2% to NIS, but Koor's share fell 1.1% to NIS 115.10.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 7, 2009
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