Nevada’s Big Bet

By Brian Grow What happens in Nevada, stays in Nevada. Literally. Especially when it comes to Nevada shell companies. That’s the gist of our latest special report in the SHELL GAMES series, “Nevada’s big bet on secrecy.” The story takes a close look at how changes to Nevada’s incorporation laws a decade ago have made it a haven for U.S. shell companies, as well as a hub for current executives of mass-incorporators who previously went to prison, in large part for using Nevada shell companies for illegal activities. The state’s liberal incorporation laws – which allow for nominee officers and directors and a higher degree of liability protection than any other state – are a magnet for questionable corporate behavior, it appears. “Nevada’s Big Bet on Secrecy” had some immediate impact: Ross Miller, Nevada’s Secretary of State, said in August that he planned to introduce a bill which would bar former felons from running mass-incorporators. In September, his office announced a new Corporate Ownership Fraud Task Force, in collaboration with the Internal Revenue Service and the Nevada Attorney General’s office, based in part on data contained in questions posed by Reuters. The data are sure to raise eye-brows. Reuters found four former felons who run or until recently ran three mass-incorporators in the state which have formed or represented more than 14,000 companies. Over 3,000 of those firms have been the subject of state and federal tax liens and civil judgements, or have been named in federal civil and criminal litigation. We also detailed a March study by two professors at the University of Virginia which shows that Nevada had the nation’s highest rate of financial restatements and fraud allegations or investigations involving publicly-traded companies on average each year between 2000 and 2008. What’s more the state is home to almost half of all publicly-traded shell companies tracked by financial consultancy Private Raise. Public shells have drawn fire for helping foreign firms access a backdoor to trading on U.S. stock exchanges, with less scrutiny from regulators and investors. Nevada’s reputation – via its gambling hub Las Vegas — for being an anything-goes oasis extends to the world of opaque corporate ownership, too Read the story in multimedia PDF format here. Here are the previous stories in the series:     A little house of secrets:   http://link.reuters.com/wug23s     China’s shortcut to Wall St: http://link.reuters.com/sep93s     Bonds that turned to dust:   http://link.reuters.com/vep93s And some video from Nevada:

@7 months ago with 37 notes
#Nevada’s #Big #Bet 

NY’s Clock Tower Building to sell for $165 mln

* Landmark skyscraper was built in 1889Oct 14 (Reuters) - Africa Israel USA, which went on a buying spree during the height of the U.S. commercial real estate boom, said it had agreed to sell the Clock Tower Building in Manhattan for $165 million, after paying $200 million in 2007.The Israeli-based holding and investment group declined to identify the buyer.Multiple investors have tried to redesign or convert the 41-story landmark building but failed to complete the project.New York real estate investment trust SL Green Realty Corp bought the building in 2005 from MetLife Inc . It later partnered with RFR Holdings and hotelier Ian Schrager, with the possibility of converting the building into luxury condominiums.When that did not materialize, the building was sold to Africa Israel USA, a unit of Africa Israel Investments , in 2007.Recently a possible deal for a sale to designer Tommy Hilfiger and real estate investment company JSR Capital fell apart, Crain’s reported last month.Completed in 1889, the Clock Tower was one of Manhattan’s earliest skyscrapers. It was originally constructed and occupied by the New York Life Insurance Company, according to the 2005 book “The Landmarks of New York” by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel.The deal is expected to close in December.Last spring, Africa Israel sold the top floors of the former headquarters of the New York Times to Blackstone Group LP for $160 million. The company bought the entire building in 2007 for $525 million.

@7 months ago with 25 notes
#NYs #Clock #Tower #Building #to #sell #for #$165 #mln 

NY’s Clock Tower Building to sell for $165 mln

* Landmark skyscraper was built in 1889Oct 14 (Reuters) - Africa Israel USA, which went on a buying spree during the height of the U.S. commercial real estate boom, said it had agreed to sell the Clock Tower Building in Manhattan for $165 million, after paying $200 million in 2007.The Israeli-based holding and investment group declined to identify the buyer.Multiple investors have tried to redesign or convert the 41-story landmark building but failed to complete the project.New York real estate investment trust SL Green Realty Corp bought the building in 2005 from MetLife Inc . It later partnered with RFR Holdings and hotelier Ian Schrager, with the possibility of converting the building into luxury condominiums.When that did not materialize, the building was sold to Africa Israel USA, a unit of Africa Israel Investments , in 2007.Recently a possible deal for a sale to designer Tommy Hilfiger and real estate investment company JSR Capital fell apart, Crain’s reported last month.Completed in 1889, the Clock Tower was one of Manhattan’s earliest skyscrapers. It was originally constructed and occupied by the New York Life Insurance Company, according to the 2005 book “The Landmarks of New York” by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel.The deal is expected to close in December.Last spring, Africa Israel sold the top floors of the former headquarters of the New York Times to Blackstone Group LP for $160 million. The company bought the entire building in 2007 for $525 million.

@7 months ago with 37 notes
#NYs #Clock #Tower #Building #to #sell #for #$165 #mln 

UPDATE 2-Google beats Q3 profit, revenue estimates

* Shares up roughly 6 percent after hours (Adds analyst comment, earnings details, byline)By Alexei OreskovicSAN FRANCISCO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Google Inc’s third-quarter results trounced Wall Street expectations as good cost controls helped boost the Internet search leader’s profit by about 26 percent.Shares of Google were up roughly 6 percent at $592.43 in after-hours trading on Thursday.Google said its net income in the three months ended September 30 grew to $2.73 billion from $2.17 billion in the year-ago period.Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $9.72 per share in the third quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were expecting adjusted EPS of $8.74.”A lot of people were expecting spending to be out of control, but they had good control,” said Herman Leung, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.Google, which faces increasing competition from social networking giant Facebook, said on Thursday that it had signed up more than 40 million users for its recently launched Google+ social network.Google said its third-quarter net revenue, which excludes fees that Google shares with partner websites, increased 37 percent year-on-year to $7.51 billion. Analysts were looking for $7.22 billion in net revenue.

@7 months ago
#UPDATE #2Google #beats #Q3 #profit #revenue #estimates