Financial/Banking

San Francisco – Gap Inc. reported increased net and same-store sales during the third quarter of fiscal 2013 in a partial financial release. Gap’s third quarter net sales grew 3% and same-store sales grew 1% compared to the prior year.

In addition, Gap’s same-store sales grew 4% in October 2013. The retailer will release full third quarter earnings results on Nov. 21, 2013.

Chicago — Employment growth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the continuing recovery in the U.S. housing market have begun to affect all sectors of commercial real estate, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s “Cross Sector Outlook.”

Total sector commercial real estate volumes in the first three quarters of 2013 have reached $208.82 billion, an increase of 30% over the same period in 2012, said the report.

Dallas — CBRE Capital Markets arranged financing for the acquisition of a portfolio of 16 shopping centers totaling approximately 417,000 sq. ft. Located across the country, each of the 16 strip centers is adjacent to a Wal-Mart Supercenter shadow anchor. CBRE worked on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between Dallas-based Fountain Capital and Cheney & Mathes Properties, to obtain a 10-year, $41.6 million fixed-rate, non-recourse loan through the Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co.

New York – G-III Apparel Group is reportedly no longer considering a purchase of Jones Group. According to Women’s Wear Daily, G-III, which in October 2013 was said to be close to reaching a deal to buy Jones Group, decided purchasing the apparel retail conglomerate would require taking on too much debt.

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Quantum Capital Partners, a real estate finance and advisory firm, has arranged two new loans to refinance two retail properties in Las Vegas for a private investor.

A $1.04 million loan will refinance the 12,000-sq.-ft. El Mercado, an L-shaped retail center in east Las Vegas, and a $1.19 million loan will refinance Wigwam, a 10,300-sq.-ft. strip center about four miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.

Toronto – Canadian Tire reported strong financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2013. These include an 11% increase in net income, to $139 million from about $128 million.

In addition, revenue grew to $2.83 billion from $2.7 billion. Consolidated same-store sales grew 3.1% across the Canadian Tire, FGL Sports, and Mark’s banners.

San Francisco – Twitter began trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Nov. 7 after reportedly raising $1.82 billion in its IPO. According to Bloomberg, Twitter sold 70 million shares at $26 each in its IPO, giving it a $14.2 billion market capitalization that is 12.4 times estimated 2014 sales of $1.14 billion.

Twitter will trade on NYSE under the TWTR symbol. The company’s revenue reached $534.5 million in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, 2013.

Payvision, an independent payment services provider, has added JCB Card to its global payment portfolio. As the only international payment card brand based in Japan, JCB has a strong presence in Asia, while processing secure payment transactions for its expanding network of 24 million merchants worldwide.