Financial/Banking

Philadelphia — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust has completed the financing of Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and used a portion of the proceeds to repay the mortgage loan balance on Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, Pa., without penalty.

The new 10-year, non-recourse loan on Wyoming Valley Mall totals $78 million and replaces a $65 million loan that was repaid in September. The transaction produced proceeds of $13 million. The interest rate on the new mortgage is 5.17%, a decrease of 68 basis points from the previous rate.

By John Cronin, Tiger Group, [email protected]

London — Starwood Capital Group has acquired seven retail parks and shopping gallerias in Sweden for SEK 3.9 billion, according to CBRE, Starwood’s adviser on the transaction. Kooperativa Forbundet, a Swedish retail group, was the seller.

New York — Cushman & Wakefield Inc. has appointed Edward C. Forst president and CEO, effective January 6, 2014.

Forst, 53, comes to Cushman & Wakefield from Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he served as global co-head of the Investment Management Division, as a member of the firms management committee and previously as the firm’s chief administrative officer.

He has more than 30 years of experience working in international asset management, capital markets and operational leadership.
 

Hudson’s Bay Company has named Donald Watros, currently the company’s COO, as president of HBC, a newly expanded role. The appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2014.

The move comes as the company restructures its leadership so it can focus on managing and growing HBC’s presence in North America, as well as its expanding portfolio of brands.

3M wowed investors on Tuesday by sharing aggressive organic growth plans, doubling a share repurchase program, raising the prospect of billion dollar acquisitions and increasing its dividend by 35%.

The $30 billion company offered the details during a meeting with investors to update a five-year growth plan that extends through 2017. The plan envisions 9% to 11% growth in earnings per share, 4% to 6% organic revenue growth and approximately a 20% return on invested capital.

NXT-ID, a biometrics company focused on the growing m-commerce market, has elected former MasterCard executives Lawrence Flanagan and Ken Moy to its newly formed board of directors. The appointments align with the company's roll-out and 2014 launch of the Wocket, a next generation biometrically secure wallet.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Prepaid payment network Blackhawk Network unveiled a partnership arrangement with Coinstar, offering customers of Coinstar’s 20,300 coin exchange kiosks a selection of Blackhawk eGifts for no fee when they cash in coins via the kiosks.

The eGift codes are redeemable at issuing retailers – either in-store, online or via mobile devices. Merchants include Gap, iTunes, Lowe's, Southwest Airlines, Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us and others.