Commercial Real Estate
Securities Regulation
UBS Settles for $1.5 Billion
We reported last week about the Swiss banking giant’s proposed settlement with global authorities. Well, the settlement is now final. UBS agreed to pay $1.5 billion in fines to settle claims against it for a multi-year scheme to manipulate interest rates, so called “rate-rigging.”
This settlement is the largest to date related to rate-rigging. The fine is one of the biggest sanctions ever levied by both American and British authorities, falling just below the $1.9 billion settlement levied against HSBC last week over money laundering claims.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Knight… Read the rest
Regional News
Whistleblower Receives Multi-Million Dollar Settlement
The former CFO of Seattle-based biopharmaceutical company Omeros Corp., Richard Klein, received nearly $4 million in settlement to resolve a wrongful termination and whistleblower lawsuit. According to Klein’s attorney, the former CFO alleged that Omeros falsified timekeeping records on a National Institute of Health research grant. Klein alerted Omeros’ audit committee and was subsequently fired from Omeros.
Omeros denies any wrongdoing, and stated its reason for settling as, “given a ruling by the court that deprived Omeros of evidence that Omeros would have… Read the rest
Recent Cases
Class Action against Mobile App developer Path
In early 2012, Path was sued for alleged surreptitious collecting of mobile device address books and installation of tracking software. Path moved to dismiss the claims for lack of standing and for failure to state a claim. The court ruled that there was proper standing, but Path was successful in dismissing some of the claims. The court dismissed for failure to state a claim the plaintiff’s claims under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Stored Communications Act, California wiretapping statute, and state common law privacy, conversion and trespass.
However, plaintiff’s claims for… Read the rest
Mergers and Acquisitions
Exxon Mobil Buys Canadian Oil and Gas Company
Oil giant Exxon Mobil agreed to terms on Wednesday to purchase Canadian oil and gas company Celtic Exploration. Exxon is paying roughly $3.1 billion in cash and stock. Exxon has been actively seeking to expand its presence in the energy-rich shale that is in western Canada.
The deal includes Exxon paying about $24.5 Canadian dollars ($24.92 USD) per share, which is roughly 35 percent above the Canadian company’s closing price. Celtic investors will also receive .5 of a share in a new company that will be led by… Read the rest
The following article was written by two real estate investment brokers at Kidder Matthews. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson (collectively Team Rosauer) lead an investment brokerage team that specializes in property sales of office, industrial, and retail buildings, as well as land development sites throughout the West Coast. They also publish monthly market reports that detail the commercial real estate market in the greater Seattle area. The report offers an inside look at the current real estate trends around Seattle’s neighborhoods and projections for future trends. We’ve broken up the Team Rosauer September… Read the rest
The following article was written by two real estate investment brokers at Kidder Matthews. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson (collectively Team Rosauer) lead an investment brokerage team that specializes in property sales of office, industrial, and retail buildings, as well as land development sites throughout the West Coast. They also publish monthly market reports that detail the commercial real estate market in the greater Seattle area. The report offers an inside look at the current real estate trends around Seattle’s neighborhoods and projections for future trends. We’ve broken up the Team Rosauer September… Read the rest
Earlier today, Amazon agreed to purchase 11 builings in South Lake Union for $1.16 billion. Currently, Amazon leases the buildings from Vulcan Real Estate; however, in late August, Vulcan informed Amazon that it would be putting the buildings up for sale.
Amazon has made a $23 million non-refundable deposit for the 1.8 million square feet of office space. The entire deal is expected to close in late 2012. You can learn more about the transaction at The Puget Sound Business Journal.
It will be interesting to see what effect Amazon’s expansion has… Read the rest
The following article was written by two real estate investment brokers at Kidder Matthews. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson (collectively Team Rosauer) lead an investment brokerage team that specializes in property sales of office, industrial, and retail buildings, as well as land development sites throughout the West Coast. They also publish monthly market reports that detail the commercial real estate market in the greater Seattle area. The report offers an inside look at the current real estate trends around Seattle’s neighborhoods and projections for future trends. We’ve broken up the Team Rosauer September… Read the rest
The following article was written by two real estate investment brokers at Kidder Matthews. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson (collectively Team Rosauer) lead an investment brokerage team that specializes in property sales of office, industrial, and retail buildings, as well as land development sites throughout the West Coast. They also publish monthly market reports that detail the commercial real estate market in the greater Seattle area. The report offers an inside look at the current real estate trends around Seattle’s neighborhoods and projections for future trends. We’ve broken up the Team… Read the rest
The following article was written by two real estate investment brokers at Kidder Matthews. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson (collectively Team Rosauer) lead an investment brokerage team that specializes in property sales of office, industrial, and retail buildings, as well as land development sites throughout the West Coast. They also publish monthly market reports that detail the commercial real estate market in the greater Seattle area. The report offers an inside look at the current real estate trends around Seattle’s neighborhoods and projections for future trends. We’ve broken up the Team… Read the rest
