March 28 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a roundup of worldwide real estate deals:

Americas

New Century Cuts Tie to Freddie Mac, Signs Orders With 4 States

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- New Century Financial Corp., short on cash and battling a wave of defaults by borrowers, said it won't sell any more mortgages to Freddie Mac.

The company also said it signed consent agreements with Idaho, Iowa, Michigan and Wyoming, according to a regulatory filing today. New Century, based in Irvine, California, has been told by more than a dozen states to halt operations after consumers complained their loans weren't funded.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Goodwin Leases Seven Floors at NY Times Building

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- The law firm Goodwin Procter LLP agreed to lease more than 216,000 square feet on seven floors of the New York Times Co.'s new Manhattan building, the newspaper and developer Forest City Ratner Cos. said.

The Boston-based law firm signed a 15-year lease in the nearly completed building, jointly owned by the Times and Forest City Ratner, and plans to move in the first quarter of 2008, Times spokeswoman Abbe Serphos said in a telephone interview. Terms were not disclosed.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Beazer Shares Fall on FBI Probe of `Potential Fraud'

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Beazer Homes USA Inc. fell as much as 12 percent after the FBI said it's investigating the homebuilder for possible fraud.

Beazer said today that the U.S. Attorney has requested documents related to its mortgage business and that there have been no allegations that it did anything wrong. The Atlanta-based company said it will cooperate with the request.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Wal-Mart Says It Would Like to Open Locations in New York City

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said it wants to open stores in New York City, though not in the borough of Manhattan.

Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott ``was specifically referencing Manhattan'' when he told The New York Times the company may never open a store in the largest U.S. city, spokesman Kevin Thornton said today in an interview.

The high cost of conducting business in New York City and opposition from communities and rivals makes it less likely Manhattan will have a Wal-Mart, Scott said, according to the Times. Wal-Mart has withdrawn plans to open stores in Staten Island and Queens following resistance.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Hard Times for California's Subprime Hometown

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- The words ``New Century'' used to flash several times a day on caller ID at Taleo Mexican Grill in Irvine, California, where diners wash down Salmon Veracruz with $7 hand-shaken margaritas. Reservations were often for 10 or more.

Not anymore, said Nic Villarreal, the owner of the restaurant, located two blocks from New Century Financial Corp.'s headquarters. ``We don't get any.''

In Irvine, where just nine months ago office vacancies approached a three-year low, home prices were at an all-time high, and unemployment was less than the national average, at just 3.6 percent, the unraveling subprime mortgage market is ruining the recent prosperity.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Europe

Morgan Stanley Fund Buys 25% Stake in RBI, Russian Developer

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley's real estate arm said one of its funds acquired about 25 percent of Russian property developer RBI Holdings for an unspecified amount.

Morgan Stanley's Special Situations Fund III bought the stake in RBI, which builds residential and retail-related developments in St. Petersburg, according to an e-mailed statement today.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

U.K. Institutions Invest Most in British Real Estate Since 2000

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. institutional investors, led by property trusts and mutual funds, put the most money into commercial real estate in Britain last year since 2000 as they sought to diversify from stocks and bonds to boost returns.

Institutions added a net 2.6 billion pounds ($5.1 billion) in 2006, more than double the 1.1 billion pound net investment in 2005, real estate broker CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said in an e- mailed statement today.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Alstria to Raise as Much as 511 Million Euros in Share Sale

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Alstria Office AG, a German investor in office property, and its owners plan to raise as much as 511 million euros ($682 million) in an initial public offering to fund acquisitions.

The company, based in Hamburg, plans to sell as many as 25.4 million shares for 16 euros to 17.50 euros each, plus as many as 3.81 million shares in case of strong demand, according to a statement yesterday.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Invista Venture to Buy French Properties for EU348 Million

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Invista REIM Holdings Plc, the largest publicly traded real estate fund manager in the U.K., said one of its ventures will buy 34 French properties for 348 million euros.

Invista and venture partner Propinvest Group Ltd. agreed to acquire offices, warehouses and residential buildings spread across France, from an unidentified vendor, London-based Invista said today in a statement.

(See Bloomberg News Story.)

Prokom Investments to Buy 28% of Polish Polnord, Pay With Land

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Prokom Investments SA, controlled by Ryszard Krauze, one of Poland's richest men, will buy 28 percent of real-estate company Polnord SA, paying with land and stakes in other companies.

Prokom agreed to acquire new shares in the developer that will be worth 636 million zloty ($219 million), Gdansk, northern Poland-based Polnord said in a regulatory statement today.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Qatar Sheikh's London Home Costs 100 Million Pounds, Times Says

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al- Thani, the foreign minister of Qatar, paid a record 100 million pounds for a London apartment, the London-based Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

The 20,000 square foot penthouse designed by the Candy brothers overlooks Hyde Park, the newspaper said. The property is the highest and biggest penthouse in One Hyde Park, a development of 86 luxury apartments that won't be ready for almost another two years, the newspaper said.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Hunt of Foxtons Wants to Sell His Entire Stake, Telegraph Says

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Jon Hunt, who founded Foxtons Ltd., a well-known London real-estate broker, has told would-be buyers that he wants to sell out from the company, the Daily Telegraph reported, without saying where it got the information.

Hunt, 54, who started Foxtons in 1981, would make about 400 million pounds from the sale of his 90 percent stake in the business, which reported 2005 pretax profit of 12.6 million pounds on sales of 71.8 million, the newspaper said.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Asia

China to Tighten Controls on Developers' Funds, Xinhua Reports

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- China will tighten controls on how developers spend money raised from pre-sales of apartments, Xinhua News Agency said, citing people it didn't name at the Ministry of Construction.

New regulations would force developers to deposit funds from pre-sales of units in each project into a special account and use the money only to finish that project, state-run Xinhua said. The measure may debut in the southern city of Shenzhen this year, the news agency said, citing an unnamed senior construction official.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Dubai to Pay $2 Billion for Finance Companies' Stakes

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Dubai International Financial Centre plans to spend $2 billion this year buying stakes in overseas financial services companies after raising money by selling land and services to global banks in the Gulf emirate.

``We're looking at investments that can benefit the financial services industry in our region,'' Nasser al-Shaali, the state- owned center's chief executive officer, said in a phone interview from Dubai, United Arab Emirates today. ``We need clearing, custody and capital markets infrastructure like information services.''

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Dubai Islamic Bank's Deyaar Sells Tower for 362 Million Dirhams

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai Islamic Bank's real estate unit sold its Metropolis Tower in Business Bay for 362 million dirhams ($99 million).

The 22-storey tower, scheduled for completion in 2008, was sold by Deyaar to a group of unidentified investors, the Dubai- based developer said in an e-mailed statement today. Deyaar has announced plans to build 17 projects in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Lebanon and is looking for investments in Saudi Arabia, India, Kazakhstan and Turkey, the company statement said.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Hong Kong Sells Cheung Chau Site at Auction for HK$96.5 Million

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's Land Department today sold a residential building site in the island of Cheung Chau for HK$96.5 million ($12 million) in the last government land auction in the 2006-07 financial year.

Green View Investment Ltd. bought the 10,382-square-meter (111,752-square foot) site at Shui Hang on Cheung Chau, the government said in a faxed statement.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Cargill, China Real Estate Buy Shanghai Mall for $120 Million

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Cargill Financial Services Corp. and China Real Estate Partners have bought a shopping center in Shanghai for $120 million, the first step in a plan to acquire retailing real estate in China's cities.

The two U.S.-based fund managers are seeking to buy malls in China because the nation's retail sales are expected to grow at a rate of at least 10 percent in the next three years, China Real Estate President Stephen Roth said in an interview in Hong Kong today.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Henderson Land to Buy Investment Unit Assets for $1.55 Billion

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Henderson Land Development Co., a builder controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Lee Shau-kee, will buy assets from its unit Henderson Investment Ltd. for as much as HK$12.1 billion ($1.55 billion).

Henderson Investment will distribute as much as HK$5 per share to investors from the sale of its real estate, hotel and security guard services assets, the companies said in an announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. The sale is subject to approval by the unit's independent shareholders.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Genting Unit to Pay S$255 Million for Star Cruises Stake

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Genting International Plc, which is building Singapore's second casino-resort, will buy Star Cruises Ltd.'s 25 percent stake in the project for S$255 million ($168 million) to meet government licensing requirements.

The companies, both units of Genting Bhd., Asia's biggest casino-operator by value, jointly won the bid for the S$5.2 billion project in December, and also announced plans this year to invest in a Macau project linked to billionaire Stanley Ho.

(See Bloomberg News story.)

Last Updated: March 28, 2007 13:03 EDT