Abu Dhabi fund snaps up NY's Chrysler Building
Friday, 11 July 2008
NEW YORK, July 10 (AFP): The cash-rich Abu Dhabi Investment Council has bought one of New York's best-known skyscrapers, the Chrysler Building, for a heady 800 million dollars, sources close to the deal said yesterday.
Despite a sharp downturn in the US housing market in recent years, bidding for landmark New York properties has remained skyhigh, showing investors still covet prestigious Manhattan properties.
The deal's price tag means the Middle East fund paid over 10 million dollars for each floor of the iconic 77-story Art Deco skyscraper which is situated in "Midtown" opposite Grand Central station.
Media reports had said the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, an investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had been holding negotiations with a subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc. over its 75 per cent stake in the Chrysler Building.
"We have sold our stake of 75 per cent on Tuesday," Prudential spokeswoman Theresa Miller told AFP.
The remaining 25 per cent stake in the skyscraper is owned by Tishman Speyer Properties, a privately held New York real estate firm.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council is intensely secretive about its operations, but investment analysts say it controls over 800 billion dollars of assets and is one of the world's biggest so- called sovereign wealth funds.
The fund made a 7.5-billion-dollar investment in Citigroup, one of America's largest financial institutions, last November. It is managed by the biggest emirate in the oil-rich UAE.
The investment giant does not typically publicize its operations, but UAE media reports say it recently reformed itself into the Abu Dhabi Investment Council having previously operated as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Despite a sharp downturn in the US housing market in recent years, bidding for landmark New York properties has remained skyhigh, showing investors still covet prestigious Manhattan properties.
The deal's price tag means the Middle East fund paid over 10 million dollars for each floor of the iconic 77-story Art Deco skyscraper which is situated in "Midtown" opposite Grand Central station.
Media reports had said the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, an investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had been holding negotiations with a subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc. over its 75 per cent stake in the Chrysler Building.
"We have sold our stake of 75 per cent on Tuesday," Prudential spokeswoman Theresa Miller told AFP.
The remaining 25 per cent stake in the skyscraper is owned by Tishman Speyer Properties, a privately held New York real estate firm.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council is intensely secretive about its operations, but investment analysts say it controls over 800 billion dollars of assets and is one of the world's biggest so- called sovereign wealth funds.
The fund made a 7.5-billion-dollar investment in Citigroup, one of America's largest financial institutions, last November. It is managed by the biggest emirate in the oil-rich UAE.
The investment giant does not typically publicize its operations, but UAE media reports say it recently reformed itself into the Abu Dhabi Investment Council having previously operated as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.