The purchase of Citi Property Investors will give New York- based Apollo 65 real estate investments in 26 countries with a net asset value of $3.5 billion, said the person, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. Apollos global head of real estate, Joseph Azrack, helped assemble the portfolio when he led the Citigroup unit from 2004 to 2008.
The sale to Apollo shows the units limited partners have confidence in the buyer and a recovery in global prices, said Matthew Anderson, partner - - - - >

The purchase of Citi Property Investors will give New York- based Apollo 65 real estate investments in 26 countries with a net asset value of $3.5 billion, said the person, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. Apollos global head of real estate, Joseph Azrack, helped assemble the portfolio when he led the Citigroup unit from 2004 to 2008.
The sale to Apollo shows the units limited partners have confidence in the buyer and a recovery in global prices, said Matthew Anderson, partner - - - - >

Berkshire sold 87,992 shares on Dec. 18 for $26.77 apiece and remains Moodys biggest shareholder, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshires stake is down about 34 percent from the 48 million shares it owned at the end of June.
Buffett buys stocks that he says have lasting competitive advantages and superior management. His stake in the rating firm, whose founder John Moody created credit grades a century ago, dates from 2000 and had a value of more than $3.5 billion at its high in - - - - >

Citadel owns and operates 224 radio stations, including KABC-AM in Los Angeles, WLS-AM in Chicago, WABC-AM and WPLJ-FM in New York and KGO-AM in San Francisco. Citadels WABC is home to several syndicated hosts, including Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Joe Scarborough and Mark Levin.
In documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Las Vegas-based Citadel listed total assets at Oct. 30 of $1.4 billion and total debt of $2.46 billion. The company said in a statement it has reached an agreement with more than 60 percent of its lenders on a deal that would erase - - - - >

Banks with $14.4 billion in total assets were closed yesterday in six U.S. states, the FDIC said in statements on its Web site. The agency is overseeing the dissolution of banks at the fastest pace in 17 years.
Two of the closures were in California. The assets and deposits of Federal Bank of California in Santa Monica were bought by closely held OneWest Bank, which acquired IndyMac Federal Bank this year. Imperial Capital Bank was bought by City National Corp., the Beverly Hills-based parent of City National - - - - >

“Elevated levels of investment losses” will weigh on the New York-based insurer, Moodys said in a statement yesterday as it cut the senior debt rating one level to A3, the fourth lowest of 10 investment grade ratings, from A2.
MetLife is bracing for losses on its $50 billion in commercial real estate loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The insurer, which used derivatives to maintain profits last year as markets slumped, has posted $2.57 billion in losses this year as stocks and bonds recover. - - - - >

Buying a 50 percent holding may stretch the finances of Europes second-largest automaker, which had 2 billion euros ($3 billion) in net debt in the manufacturing and sales divisions as of June 30 and bonds rated below investment grade by Standard & Poors. The companies have similar market valuations of about $8.5 billion, while Peugeot sells three times as many vehicles and garners four times as much revenue.
“Peugeot doesnt have the liquidity to take a major Mitsubishi stake in cash,” said Jens Schattner, a Frankfurt- based - - - - >

The state-controlled company will ask creditors for a “standstill” agreement as it negotiates to extend maturities, including $3.52 billion of Islamic bonds due Dec. 14 from its property unit Nakheel PJSC, Dubais Department of Finance said in an e-mailed statement. Moodys Investors Service and Standard & Poors cut the ratings on several state companies, saying they may consider the plan a default.
“Extending the maturity of Nakheel debt is feeding the markets uncertainty on which debt Dubai will honor in full,” said Rachel Ziemba, a senior analyst - - - - >

Yet even with 15 million people hunting for work, even with the unemployment rate nearing 10 percent, some employers cant find enough qualified people for good-paying career jobs.
Ask Steve Jones, a hospital recruiter in Indianapolis whos struggling to find qualified nurses, pharmacists and MRI technicians. Or Ed Baker, whos looking to hire at a U.S. Energy Department research lab in Richland, Wash., for $60,000 each.
Economists say the main problem is a mismatch between available work and people qualified to do it. Millions of jobs with attractive pay and benefits that once drew legions of workers to the auto industry, construction, - - - - >

A former Moodys employee warned the Securities and Exchange Commission in March about deficiencies in the firms monitoring of municipal bonds after being rebuffed by Moodys executives, a document shows.
Scott McCleskey, who was a senior vice president for compliance at Moodys until he left a year ago, wrote a letter to an official at the SEC alleging a “lack of meaningful surveillance of municipal securities, contrary to statements by Moodys to the public and to Congress.”
McCleskey will testify Wednesday at a hearing by the House Government Oversight Committee, which is examining the role of the Wall Street rating agencies in - - - - >