Credit…Visual China Group via Getty Images
Shares in Soho China, a real estate company run by a prominent power couple, fell a third on Monday after Blackstone Group stepped out of its purchase agreement.
Soho China said in a joint filing late Friday that Blackstone would not enforce its $ 3 billion bid for a controlling stake in the company for no reason. Wall Street’s investment giant Blackstone and Soho China declined to comment on Monday.
The company is controlled by Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi, a married couple who share the title of Executive Director. Mr. Pan, the chairman, was one of the first Chinese entrepreneurs to use social media for public relations and has several million followers online. Ms. Zhang is best known for her role in a 2013 purchase of a stake in the General Motors Building in Manhattan.
The news comes as China’s most successful business tycoons come under scrutiny and pressure mounts to share more of their wealth. The deal, which would have been one of the largest in the real estate industry, was announced in June and an official review is pending. It was seen as a step by the couple to reduce their involvement in China.
A deal for Soho China could also have boosted confidence in the country’s real estate sector, which, after years of remarkable growth, is under increased regulatory scrutiny as Beijing seeks to stop corporate binge borrowing. The developers were forced to settle rising bills under the new central bank rules known as the “three red lines”.
Evergrande, China’s largest property developer, has scared investors, home buyers and experts predicting bankruptcy in the near future.
Over the past few weeks, house prices and demand have weakened in some of China’s largest cities. A well-known Beijing think tank said last week the sector was “showing signs of a turning point.”
Real estate problems as well as reports of heightened regulatory tightening in mainland China contributed to a nearly 2 percent decline in Hong Kong stocks on Monday.
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Credit… Sandy Huffaker for the New York Times
More than 500,000 student borrowers – with nearly $ 10 billion
President Biden has so far fought off calls for blanket debt relief, which is a top priority for many progressive lawmakers, but a parade of relatively modest approval and relief enhancements are leading to a significant expansion of support for troubled borrowers. And more could come: The Department of Education said it was planning regulatory changes to programs aimed at helping civil servants and those with income-driven repayment plans.
There are many incentives for the federal government – the primary lender to Americans who borrow for college and hold $ 1.4 trillion in debt from 43 million borrowers – to fix the stalled aid programs soon. Since the pandemic broke out in March 2020, virtually all of these loans have been on an interest-free hiatus that is expected to end on January 31.
The department’s actions to date have generated little controversy – few oppose giving military personnel, disabled borrowers, and betrayed students the relief they are legally entitled to – but the idea of canceling student debt in general is a lightning rod. Republicans don’t like to burden taxpayers with the costs, and their critics on the left see it as a subsidy for those with expensive professional degrees.
“Our ultimate goal is permanent change,” said Kelly Leon, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education. “We’re building a student loan system that works for borrowers and gives them the Congressional relief that has been elusive for far too long.”
The drive for widespread debt relief has overshadowed calls to fix glaring administrative issues that urgently need to be addressed, lawyers say. READ THE ARTICLE →
Credit…Ryan Christopher Jones for the New York Times
Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored body that buys mortgages from the banks, plans – with their permission – to check many people’s bank accounts to get a record of regular rent payments to assess mortgage qualification.
The data showed that only 17 percent of people who hadn’t owned a home in the past three years and hadn’t previously qualified for a mortgage could do so now. But that 17 percent comes from a group that is disproportionately made up of black people, many of whom have limited credit histories and come from marginalized groups on the wrong side of a decades-long wealth gap.
Fannie Mae effectively sets many of the standards of who is qualified and what dates count, and until now rent hasn’t counted, although this is the largest payment most renters make each month. Consumer advocates and industry experts have agreed for many years that this should not be the case.
The complicated, multi-step process Fannie uses means a lot of people don’t benefit from it at first. The New York Times Your Money columnist Ron Lieber is watching this →
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/13/investors-panic-as-blackstone-walks-away-from-a-china-real-estate-deal/
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