Don’t expect to see Highfields Capital Management LP making any more bold moves, or statements, in regards to Santa Ana-based CoreLogic Inc. this year.
CoreLogic earlier this month announced it was adding three new members to its board of directors and also announced the eventual retirement of its chairman, D. Van Skilling, resolving a nearly year-long conflict with Boston-based Highfields, one of its largest shareholders.
Highfields last year made waves by proposing a sale of CoreLogic, which specializes in data for the real estate and mortgage industries. After exploring a potential sale of some or all of its business, CoreLogic opted against doing so earlier this year, drawing the wrath of Highfields.
The hedge fund made more headlines by subsequently calling for a shake-up to CoreLogic’s executive management, citing the company’s under-performing stock and earnings since its 2010 split from title insurance company First American Financial Corp.
“We have no faith in the management team or this board to hold the management team accountable,” Farhad Nanji, a managing director at Highfields, said in February.
Nanji was one of three candidates that Highfields nominated to the board in late March.
The private equity firm withdrew those nominees following CoreLogic’s decision this month to switch up its board by adding three other Highfields-approved board members—Douglas Curling, John Dorman and Jaynie Studenmund—among other changes.
A related “support agreement” between CoreLogic and Highfields, which owns about 7.6% of CoreLogic’s shares and is the company’s largest independent shareholder, also should lead to a cooling-off period between the two companies, based on a reading of regulatory filings.
Under the agreement Highfields is prohibited from proposing or backing a sale, merger, reorganization or other “extraordinary transactions” at CoreLogic at least until early 2013.
The company also isn’t allowed to attempt to boost its ownership stake of CoreLogic to more than 10% during the same period.
Highfields also agreed not to publicly or privately disparage CoreLogic, its executives or current and past directors during the time the agreement is in place.
CoreLogic has a market value of about $1.8 billion. Its shares are up almost 30% since the beginning of the year.
Apartments Await
A nearly 6-acre development site near the Outlets at Orange shopping center previously owned by MPG Office Trust looks likely to be turned into an apartment complex following a recent sale.
Chicago-based AMLI Residential, an owner and developer of high-end apartments, recently closed on the purchase of land at 3537 S. The City Drive in Orange.
The roughly 5.6-acre site, next to the Doubletree Hotel and across the street from City Tower, a 20-story office tower that MPG previously owned, now holds a parking lot.
The land is said to have traded hands for more than $7 million.
Bob Patterson, Ray Eldridge and Michele Jefcoat, brokers in the Newport Beach office of CBRE Group Inc., represented MPG Office Trust in the sale.
ALMI Residential closed on the property without entitlements, according to CBRE officials. The land is currently zoned for urban mixed-use development.
The site is subject to an easement, which will require the buyer to construct a parking garage for 494 parking spaces for the adjacent Doubletree Hotel, according to CBRE’s Patterson.
“With future development opportunities in Orange County severely constrained, there was tremendous competition for this property,” Patterson said.
A timeframe for any new construction has not been announced.
AMLI Residential counts four apartment complexes in Southern California, including three in Rancho Cucamonga. The Orange site appears to be the company’s first in Orange County.
Luxury Theater
Aliso Viejo-based Shea Properties has added an upscale movie theater to a shopping center it owns in Laguna Niguel.
The company’s Ocean Ranch Village, a nearly 102,000-square-foot center in Laguna Niguel, recently opened up Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, an off-shoot of Latin America’s largest movie theater operators.
It’s the first Orange County location for the theater chain, which plans to open a second site in Rancho Santa Margarita. The chain opened its first U.S. cinema in Del Mar last year.
The Ocean Ranch multiplex features 684 reclining leather seats and seven digital auditoriums.
The Cinépolis theater replaces an Edwards theater at the center.
Other recent additions to Ocean Ranch include Beach Pit BBQ, Chipotle and Five Guys Burgers & Fries. The center has less than 3,000 square feet of available space, according to brokerage data.
