After undergoing months of a comprehensive review of its real estate investments branch, Australia-based Lend Lease Corp. has made a definitive decision to exit the U.S.-based business, rendering U.S.-based Lend Lease Real Estate Investments defunct.
Jonathan Miller, a spokesman of the firm, said that the U.S.-based business - termed U.S. REI - would possibly be sold off to interested buyers or be exited over time.
"The essential business decisions have been made to build on our successes and deal conclusively with our failures," said Greg Clarke, the firm's managing director and CEO, in a report located on the REI's Web site.
The report indicated that there was an "unacceptably poor outlook for U.S. REI for the next few years at least," as well as "too many disconnected businesses in the U.S., creating complexity and dispersed management focus." The report further states, "Our discussions with Morgan Stanley regarding the U.S. Real Estate Equity Advisory business continue but are now focused on our ultimate strategic objective to exit the business over time."
The abandonment by Lend Lease Corp. of its businesses on U.S. soil comes in the wake of recent terminations of accounts by several of the firm's public pension clients. Most recently, the $24 billion Los Angeles Employees' Retirement Association released the manager from a $442 million core real estate account, citing poor performance and personnel turnovers.
