Billionaire investor Harry Macklowe has a big overdue credit bill of nearly $7 billion that he amassed to purchase some prime Manhattan office real estate that includes the GM Building. Now, Macklowe may be able to pay off some of that debt with the help of Boston Properties Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Middle Eastern investors, who are reportedly negotiating a deal to acquire the mogul's GM Building and possibly other properties.
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Bloomberg said the group, which would also include sovereign wealth funds Kuwait Investment Authority and Qatar Investment Authority, may offer $2.8 billion. Meanwhile The Wall Street Journal reported that the group may offer $3.8 billion but the deal included as many as three other properties.
Macklowe has become the poster boy of the real estate bust -- an investor who overleveraged his firm and was therefore caught in the eye of the credit crisis, unable to refinance his mortgages or sell his properties for his inflated offering price. In the end, as Macklowe can attest to, the free market has the final say, and his wallet will attest to that. - Gerald Magpily
See New York Post article
See Bloomberg article
See Wall Street Journal article (subscription required)
See Dealscape: Macklowe's ATM could be his company
