| About St. Joe's Land 'Sale' and Income Opportunity Realty Investors, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Results |
|
|
|
|
The St. Joe Company (JOE) announced today that it has completed the sale of a 40,975 acre timber deed to an investment fund managed by Resource Management Service (RMS) for a price of $55.9 million. "This sale allows St. Joe to accelerate the monetization of a small portion of our standing timber, while retaining the ownership of the underlying land and the long-term options to capitalize on future real estate development opportunities," said Hugh Durden, interim Chief Executive Officer. Under the terms of the timber deed, RMS has the right to harvest or sell the standing timber on specified stands for a period of up to 20 years. The ages of the timber deed stands range from 15 to 30 years, and are located in Gulf and Calhoun counties, Florida. As individual tracts of land are released by RMS following final harvest, the use of the land reverts immediately back to St. [Read the full article] One of the most interesting investment stories to come out in the past year is the debate over The St. Joe Company (JOE). On the long side, and 30% stockholder, we have Bruce Berkowitz and his mutual fund, Fairholme Funds, Inc. In 2010, Morningstar named Mr. Berkowitz their Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Decade. And it’s no wonder why – since inception in 1999, his fund has achieved annualized returns (pdf) of 14.47% compared to just 0.45% for the S&P 500. On the short side we have David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital. Mr. Einhorn is a highly respected manager whose fund has achieved annualized returns of 22% since inception in May 1996 (through 2009), compared to approximately 4% for the S&P 500. Einhorn has been publicly short since 2007 and on 10/13/10 he made public an updated analysis of the company. His presentation, which can be found here (pdf) on his website, centers on his thesis that much of the land is not worth what the company says it is. [Read the full article] BOSTON, April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Giyora Bar Dea, CEO ofStrauss North America and Chairman of Max Brenner, said today: "Our newbranch in Boston constitutes another step in the expansion and consolidationof the Max Brenner brand in the United States. As part of our globalexpansion policy, we target major cities and top strategic locations thattogether form a wide platform for brand exposure in North America. We believethat the local community in Boston will soon embrace the unique concept of apremium chocolate and food experience, as did other cities to-date.Already a worldwide phenomenon, Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man,has spread its culture to the United States with locations in New York City,Philadelphia, Las Vegas and now a new chocolate bar location in Boston. Thenew branch on 745 Boylston Street is located in the "Restaurant Row" at endof the Boston Marathon route- a most desirable area in Massachusetts. [Read the full article] 
|