Ever since November we had been in a “phoney war”. Several UK property companies had to raise equity, and asset sales alone cannot do the job. Given the need for up-to-date numbers, rights issues would not start until February, but speculation began to run riot. After all, US Reits had been raising equity throughout 2008, albeit to little effect, and the Australians had been hard at it since October. The UK was next.
Wednesday, January 7: The first call is not about a major, but Workspace, one of whose banks, apparently, want out.
