CBL extends loans valued at $115 million
CBL Properties announced Monday it completed the extension of the $56.7 million loan secured by The Pavilion at Port Orange in Port Orange, Florida, and the $58.2 million loan secured by Hammock Landing in West Melbourne, Florida.
Both loans originally were scheduled to mature in 2019. The loans were extended for an initial term of three years, with two one-year extensions available at the company’s option, for a final maturity in 2023. The new loans will bear interest at 225 basis points over LIBOR, an increase of 25 bps over the prior rate.
“We are pleased to continue our progress addressing upcoming maturities well in advance with the extension of these two loans at a favorable rate and a full term of five years,” said Farzana Khaleel, CBL’s chief financial officer.
The Pavilion at Port Orange and Hammock Landing are both owned in a 50-50 joint venture.
Economists worry about 2020 recession
A group of top business economists believes the major tax cuts President Donald Trump pushed through Congress will give a significant boost to economic growth this year and next year. But they worry that by 2020, the country could be entering a new recession.
The National Association for Business Economics says in its latest quarterly outlook that its panel of 45 economists expects the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, to expand 2.8 percent this year. That is down slightly from the panel’s March forecast, which put GDP growth this year at 2.9 percent.
The NABE economists are “slightly less optimistic about the U.S. economy in 2018 than they were three months ago,” said NABE vice president Kevin Swift, chief economist at the American Chemistry Council.
Part of the drop-off in optimism reflects growing worries about what Trump’s get-tough approach on trade might do to U.S. growth prospects.
Three-fourths of the NABE panel believes current trade policies will have a negative impact on the economy. Trump last week imposed penalty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from major U.S. trading partners – the European Union, Canada and Mexico – and he has threatened tariffs on up to $200 billion in Chinese imports, moves that could trigger a global trade war as the targeted nations pledge to retaliate.
3M sells fiber optics business to Corning
3M Co. has sold its unit that makes fiber optics and other materials for the telecommunications industry for $870 million.
Corning Inc. bought the Communications Markets Division, which also includes the copper passive connectivity units and the xDSL, FTTx and structured cabling solutions products, officials said Monday.
One shard of the transaction remains pending. 3M said the sale of its telecommunications system integration services business in Hannover, Germany, won’t be completed until the end of 2018. It is expected to sell for about $30 million.
In all, 3M’s Communication Markets Division had annual sales of about $400 million.
3M expects to realize a 2018 net earnings-benefit from the divestiture of about 40 to 45 cents per share.
Energy chief defends coal, nuclear plants
Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Monday defended President Donald Trump’s call to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants, saying a rash of plant retirements is “alarming” and poses a looming crisis for the nation’s power grid.
Experts disagree and say Trump is attempting to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
In a speech in Austin, Texas, Perry said coal and nuclear plants “are retiring at an alarming rate that, if unchecked, will threaten our ability to recover from intentional attacks and natural disasters.”
“The president is right to view grid resilience as a serious national security issue,” Perry said at a conference on cybersecurity. He’s taking steps as directed by Trump to keep coal and nuclear plants open.