Latest news with #ParamountGroup
New York Post
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Paramount Group's earnings call revealed big new lease, and another followed
Paramount Group's second-quarter earnings call mentioned a major unreported lease, but not a different lease signed after the quarter ended. Chairman and CEO Albert Behler told analysts that 1301 Sixth Ave., one of the publicly traded company's prime Midtown assets, welcomed investment bank Piper Sandler, which signed for 140,000 square feet. We've since learned that law firm Adler & Stachenfeld took 40,000 square feet after the quarter ended. Advertisement Sources said JLL's Frank Doyle and Andrew Coe repped Paramount in both deals but neither could be reached for confirmation. The sources also said a different JLL team repped Piper Sandler and CBRE repped Adler Stachenfeld. 3 1301 Sixth Ave. welcomed investment bank Piper Sandler. Google Maps The starting rents for both leases were above $90 per square foot, Paramount execs said on the call. We also learned from Behler, executive vice-president Peter Brindley and CFO Linda Berberi that: Advertisement *Paramount leased 690,000 square feet of offices in New York and San Francisco year-to-date, of which 52% were in Manhattan. The New York portfolio is 88.1% leased, the highest since early 2022. As per Behler: 'The city continues to demonstrate remarkable strength and depth … a clear and sustained flight to quality.' But the bullish data didn't take into account vacant 60 Wall St., the former Deutsche Bank tower which Paramount is spending $250 million to modernize and beautify — an omission that was confirmed by a Paramount rep. Advertisement 3 Albert Behler is Paramount Group Chairman and CEO. Bloomberg Strangely, none of the analysts on the call asked about it. But had 60 Wall's 1.6 million empty square feet been included as part of Paramount's Manhattan portfolio, the 88.1% leased figure would be lower. Asked about debt, Berberi said, 'Our largest upcoming maturity, the $860 million loan on 1301 [Sixth Ave.] is backed by high-performing, over 97% leased assets on a pro forma basis in a liquid and well-functioning debt market. We are on track to refinance the asset and look forward to sharing more on our next call.' As for Showtime Networks' planned move-out next year from 260,000 square feet 1633 Broadway, another prime asset, Behler said, 'We have active showings and the building, as you know, has been solidly leased for the last over 10 years. And the retail is performing well.' Retail tenants include the huge Taiwanese dumpling house Din Tai Fung 'which we hear is apparently the highest-grossing' and an incoming outpost of popular trattoria La Pecora Bianca. Advertisement 3 Space is set to open up at 1633 Broadway after Showtime Network moves out next year. Google Maps Behler said, 'Asking rents [at 1633 Broadway] range from, call it, $70 to $90 per square foot and activity at the moment feels very good. We're trading paper on that Showtime block of floors specifically.'
Globe and Mail
09-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Paramount Announces Release Date for Second Quarter 2025 Results
Paramount Group, Inc. (NYSE: PGRE) ('Paramount' or the 'Company') announced today that it will file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and release its second quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 after the end of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast on Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), during which management will discuss the second quarter results and provide commentary on business performance. A question and answer session with analysts and investors will follow the prepared remarks. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 877-407-0789 (domestic) or 201-689-8562 (international). An audio replay of the conference call will be available from 2:00 p.m. ET on July 31, 2025 through August 7, 2025 and can be accessed by dialing 844-512-2921 (domestic) or 412-317-6671 (international) and entering the passcode 13754465. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through the 'Investors' section of the Company's website, A replay of the webcast will be archived on the Company's website. About Paramount Group, Inc. Headquartered in New York City, Paramount Group, Inc. is a fully integrated real estate investment trust that owns, operates, manages, acquires and redevelops high-quality, Class A office properties located in select central business district submarkets of New York City and San Francisco. Paramount is focused on maximizing the value of its portfolio by leveraging the sought-after locations of its assets and its proven property management capabilities to attract and retain high-quality tenants.
Business Wire
09-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Paramount Announces Release Date for Second Quarter 2025 Results
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Paramount Group, Inc. (NYSE: PGRE) ('Paramount' or the 'Company') announced today that it will file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and release its second quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 after the end of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast on Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), during which management will discuss the second quarter results and provide commentary on business performance. A question and answer session with analysts and investors will follow the prepared remarks. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 877-407-0789 (domestic) or 201-689-8562 (international). An audio replay of the conference call will be available from 2:00 p.m. ET on July 31, 2025 through August 7, 2025 and can be accessed by dialing 844-512-2921 (domestic) or 412-317-6671 (international) and entering the passcode 13754465. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through the 'Investors' section of the Company's website, A replay of the webcast will be archived on the Company's website. About Paramount Group, Inc. Headquartered in New York City, Paramount Group, Inc. is a fully integrated real estate investment trust that owns, operates, manages, acquires and redevelops high-quality, Class A office properties located in select central business district submarkets of New York City and San Francisco. Paramount is focused on maximizing the value of its portfolio by leveraging the sought-after locations of its assets and its proven property management capabilities to attract and retain high-quality tenants.
Mail & Guardian
31-05-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
South African firms suspect UAE companies may have obtained military intellectual property
(Wikimedia Commons) Defence company The investigation focuses on employees of at least two defence firms who are suspected of passing military intellectual property (IP) to UAE state-owned companies. 'Paramount Group is cooperating fully with the The OCCRP obtained two briefings from the SIU, which focus mainly on allegations that employees of a second company, One of the documents obtained by the OCCRP was a 2023 presentation to parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), while the other was a PowerPoint briefing of the SIU's findings in 2025. The SIU declined to answer detailed questions about its investigation, saying that it 'reports only to the president and parliament'. 'Therefore, we cannot make public statements or give comments on ongoing investigations,' a spokesperson added in an email. 'However, it is important to note that evidence indicating criminal conduct has been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority.' Paramount has also launched its own internal investigation to determine whether employees provided intellectual property to a UAE company after a joint venture deal that eventually collapsed. 'Pattern of misconduct' Founded in South Africa in the early 1990s, Paramount is now headquartered in the UAE. The company filed for bankruptcy last year after losing an arbitration case in London against Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments Company (Adasi). Paramount's problems began in 2016 when one of its subsidiaries, Riverston Enterprises Limited, entered into a joint venture deal with Adasi. The joint venture fell apart after Adasi was taken over by another UAE state-owned firm called Edge Group, according to internal records and court documents obtained by the OCCRP. As part of the agreement to set up the joint venture, Adasi had provided Paramount with a loan of $150 million, an internal document from Edge shows. That money was meant to cover the costs of creating the joint venture company in the UAE, and transferring the intellectual property behind Paramount's reconnaissance plane, which the new company would transform into an armed strike aircraft called the MWARI. Both Adasi and Paramount agree that the intellectual property was never transferred to the UAE as planned. Now Paramount says it is no longer legally obligated to transfer the intellectual property, but Adasi says it has the rights to the information under the arbitration ruling. Neither the Edge Group, which owns Adasi, nor its public relations representatives responded to requests for comment. But a legal document filed by Adasi in Paramount's bankruptcy case provides insight into its position. In the legal filing, Adasi argued that Paramount's bankruptcy case was a stall tactic meant to give the company time to move its assets so they could not be transferred. Those included the 'potentially valuable intellectual property assets', which had been 'granted to Adasi'. The filing states that Paramount said it declared bankruptcy because it could not afford to pay the penalty ordered by the arbitration board. That penalty totalled $230 million, and included the $150 million that was to cover the transfer of intellectual property for its aircraft to the UAE. Paramount's South African lawyer, Lauth, told the OCCRP that the intellectual property of the MWARI aircraft 'remains wholly governed by South African law and has not been externalised to the UAE, Adasi, EDGE or any related entity'. Intellectual property used exclusively for military purposes is often not patented, because doing so would make the designs accessible to competitors and hostile actors. Instead, such property is considered a 'sovereign asset' overseen by the government, according to experts including Vanessa du Toit who previously ran the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, which oversees South Africa's military technology and arms exports. Lauth said the research and design behind the MWARI was 'not the only intellectual property that was allegedly targeted'. 'Our clients have identified a broader pattern of misconduct involving multiple Paramount-developed platforms,' she told the OCCRP. In a leaked document from the arbitration case, Paramount founder Ivor Ichikowitz said the deal was based on Adasi ordering 5 000 armoured vehicles, and 6 000 'loitering munitions', which are drones built to explode on impact. In the end, only four trucks and 500 drones were ordered by the company. 'In hindsight, it now appears that the presentations and solutions we presented may have been used by … staff to benchmark other defence projects underway at the time in other organisations in the UAE,' Ichikowitz said, according to a leaked affidavit from the arbitration case. Ichikowitz declined to provide comment to reporters. Martie Baumgardt, a senior executive, told the OCCRP the firm is also carrying out its own internal investigation. She said the company is looking into the 'possible theft of IP from Paramount by individuals who left the company, which may conceivably have ended up in the UAE'. According to Baumgardt, after the joint venture with the UAE partner broke down, 45 Paramount employees joined Edge Group companies. A leaked document from Paramount's internal investigation also alleges that 57 laptops and 10 hard drives were stolen from 2016 — the year Paramount's subsidiary entered the joint venture with Adasi — to 2024, when it lost the arbitration case. The Denel affair Meanwhile, the Denel case dates back to 2012, when South Africa's state-owned arms manufacturer entered into a joint venture with a UAE firm, then known as Tawazun Operation Company LLC. Under the agreement, the two firms established a new company based in the UAE called Tawazun Dynamics LLC. According to the 2023 briefing to Scopa, the joint venture was initially intended to manufacture and supply Denel missiles to the UAE Air Force, and 'future customers'. At first, the partnership appeared to be a success. Other deals were soon struck, in which Denel would also provide a UAE defence company called NIMR Automotive LLC with RG35 Military Vehicle IP and hardware. But the relationship began to sour. 'It is alleged that the IP belonging to the institution was misappropriated in cohesive criminal conduct to abet foreign state companies,' the SIU said in its 2023 briefing, referring to allegations brought by Denel. In its investigation, the SIU found evidence suggesting that Denel employees may have accessed intellectual property without permission. In one instance, SIU investigators found that 'data packs' relating to missile technology had been downloaded from Denel's system after a request from Halcon, another arms company owned by Edge Group, according to the 2023 briefing. That briefing also outlines a case reported by Denel to the SIU, which involved intellectual property for a military vehicle. The SIU noted that contracts had been signed with NIMR by a Denel employee who was not authorised to do so. 'This official later resigned and informed Denel that he was offered a senior position by NIMR,' the briefing says. Denel reported that it had later received a letter from the chief executive of NIMR, who had previously worked for Denel, demanding intellectual property for a military vehicle. The joint venture company Tawazun Dynamics is today called Al Tariq and — like NIMR — it is owned by Edge Group, which did not respond to questions about alleged attempts to transfer intellectual property from Denel. The NIMR chief executive was one of more than 300 Denel staff who left the company and went to work in the UAE's arms sector, according to a summary of a South African parliamentary discussion in February. Gloria Serobe, chair of the Denel board, told the parliamentary committee that so many Denel employees had left for UAE firms that 'board meetings were done in Afrikaans'. This story was first published by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Paramount Group CFO, GC resign; office REIT launches strategic review
This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. Paramount Group CFO, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer Wilbur Paes and General Counsel Gage Johnson stepped down from their roles at the company and its affiliates on May 15, the real estate investment trust said in a Monday securities filing. The real estate investment trust, which owns office properties in New York and San Francisco, appointed its SVP and Chief Accounting Officer Ermelinda Berberi to the role of CFO and treasurer and tapped its Vice President, Counsel, Timothy Dembo for the role of SVP, GC and secretary, according to a Monday press release. All appointments were effective May 15. The REIT simultaneously announced its board has initiated 'a review and evaluation of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.' The review comes as the company's 'board and management team remain focused on closing the persistent gap between the company's public market valuation and our assessment of its intrinsic value,' CEO and Chairman and President Albert Behler said in a statement included in the release. The New York City-based REIT, a major office landlord in San Francisco and New York, is evaluating 'a comprehensive range of strategic alternatives' as part of its review, Behler said Monday in his statement. That could include a potential sale of the company or a joint venture, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Paramount Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The REIT has engaged Bank of America Securities to serve as its financial advisor and tapped Latham & Watkins LLP to act as its legal advisor, working in tandem with a 'transaction committee' comprised of independent directors to review the company's options, according to the Monday release.'There is no set timetable for completing the strategic review and no assurance can be given as to its outcome,' Paramount said of the review in its Monday release. The abrupt executive departures and review are the latest signs of struggle at the real estate trust, which has a business model that is focused on providing office spaces for the financial, media and professional services industries, according to its website. Both the review and its two recent executive appointments come as the REIT looks to regain shareholder confidence as it continues to navigate economic headwinds, including weakness in its San Franscisco portfolio, looming debt maturities and challenges stemming from the broader office sector that is still struggling to recover from the shift toward remote work. The firm has drawn headlines regarding previously undisclosed payments to its CEO, Behler who received at least $4 million in payments for personal expenses and business interests, The Wall Street Journal reported in April. The REIT has also struggled to retain shareholder trust and confidence amid continuing economic pressure. Paramount Group reported strong leasing activity for its most recent quarter ending Mar. 31 — leasing 283,874 square feet, its strongest quarter since Q1 2021, according to an earnings call transcript. However, its total debt inched upwards to $5.4 billion for the quarter, with 42% of its debt set to mature in 2026, according to its earnings presentation. Paramount also reported a net loss of $10 million for the quarter, compared to net income of $9.9 million for the prior year period, according to its earnings results. Paramount's incoming CFO Berberi has served as the company's CAO since March 2017, joining the company in 2016 as its SVP of finance, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to Paramount Group, Berberi served as a senior manager at Big Four firm Deloitte. The company did not detail Berberi's compensation as CFO in its Monday filing. For the full-year 2024, her predecessor Paes received total compensation of approximately $2.4 million in his role as CFO, COO and treasurer, comprised of an annual base salary of $670,000, stock awards with a value of $1.7 million, and other compensation of $52,080, according to Paramount's latest proxy statement filed in April. A 10-year veteran of the REIT, Paes served a five-year term as Paramount's CFO, and was appointed to the dual role of CFO and COO in February 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to succeeding Johnson as GC, Dembo served as VP, counsel for the REIT beginning in 2022, according to the Monday press release. He joined the company in 2020 from Wilkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where he previously served as an associate, according to his LinkedIn profile. Johnson, a 16-year alum of the company, received $955,419 in total compensation for 2024 as its GC, according to the proxy.
