Madagascar Development

Nordstrom Inc. ( JWN - Analyst Report ) has taken its store-expansion initiative another step ahead with the opening of its first full-line store in Puerto Rico. Located at The Mall of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the store features the company’s latest interior and exterior design concepts while accommodating 3 restaurants and improved beauty experience. The two-level, 138,000 square feet store is designed to feature 5 shoe departments, expansive cosmetics and accessories areas, and a comprehensive offering of popular brand names for women, men and children. The popular shoes and handbags brands available at the store include Valentino, Manolo Blahnik, Tory Burch, Vince Camuto and Michael Kors, among others. The women apparel brands available at the store are Missoni, Versace Collection, Herve Leger, Topshop, BCBG, Michael Michael Kors, Elizabeth and James, Haute Hippie and many more. Additionally, exclusive beauty brands will be at the disposal of the San Juan community i...

Creditors of Puerto Rico's electric power authority are likely to agree by a Tuesday deadline to extend a forbearance agreement aimed at avoiding a potentially messy default, two people close to the matter said on Friday. Negotiations between the power authority PREPA and creditors holding some $9 billion in debt will likely continue over the weekend, Lisa Donahue, PREPA's chief restructuring officer, said late on Thursday. "PREPA expects to meet with the media and make a public statement on Monday," Donahue said in a statement. An extension appears likely in the wake of a productive meeting between PREPA and its creditors on Thursday, said two people close to the talks who requested anonymity because the negotiations are private. One group comprised of 60 percent of PREPA's bondholders has proposed to help finance PREPA's turnaround, though it is unclear how much momentum the proposal has. The group, which includes OppenheimerFunds, Franklin Templeton, B...

One year ago, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and SelectUSA announced that Lufthansa Technik was going to develop its new maintenance, repair and overhaul project in Puerto Rico. But it was much more than a typical announcement; it marked the beginning of a new industrial and economic segment for Puerto Rico.  We have since broken ground on the facility and construction is advancing on track.  Meanwhile, we are already seeing this deal create real economic momentum across the Island. This operation represents a significant investment in our economy and it is estimated to result in an economic impact of $2.2 billion over a 30-year period.  The facility will also create hundreds of permanent jobs and help strengthen our aviation and aerospace industry. At this year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit, taking place March 23-24 at National Harbor, more international businesses like Lufthansa Technik have the chance to follow the lead and benefit from participating in Puerto Rico...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Founder and chairman of the board of directors of Foundation for Puerto Rico (FPR), Jon Borschow, announced the opening of the Colaboratorio, an innovative collaborative space that will serve to advance the transformation of Puerto Rico. "In this historical moment, collaboration between all sectors, promoted by the third sector will be the engine of economic development for our country," he explained. “The Colaboratorio is our mission turned into a tangible space; a great place where various initiatives converge to work for Puerto Rico” FPR developed the Colaboratorio as part of its mission to serve as the catalyst for the economic and social transformation of the Island. The space is home to FPR and hosts other nonprofit organizations whose purposes advance the goal of promoting economic and social development of Puerto Rico. It promotes the exchange of ideas and r...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –   A pair of nearly 5-inch black satin heels with a large gold alligator that serves as the front strap retails for almost $1,600 at the first Saks Fifth Avenue store to open in Puerto Rico, more than what the average person here earns in a month and where nearly half the population lives in poverty. While a nearly decade-long recession has forced many Puerto Ricans to seek a more affordable life on the U.S. mainland, some of the world's priciest retailers have stores at The Mall of San Juan, a $475 million shopping center opening Thursday alongside one of the island's most crime-ridden public housing projects. "We know that Puerto Rico has its challenges, but we're not basing our decision on the economy's ups and downs," said Manuel Vazquez, the mall's general manager. "The sales of shoes, clothes and accessories in Puerto Rico have always been strong." Puerto Ricans do seem to have been busy shopping while the governmen...

A pair of nearly 5-inch black satin heels with a large gold alligator that serves as the front strap retails for almost $1,600 at the first Saks Fifth Avenue store to open in Puerto Rico , more than what the average person here earns in a month and where nearly half the population lives in poverty. While a nearly decade-long recession has forced many Puerto Ricans to seek a more affordable life on the U.S. mainland, some of the world's priciest retailers have stores at The Mall of San Juan, a $475 million shopping center opening Thursday alongside one of the island's most crime-ridden public housing projects. "We know that Puerto Rico has its challenges, but we're not basing our decision on the economy's ups and downs," said Manuel Vazquez, the mall's general manager. "The sales of shoes, clothes and accessories in Puerto Rico have always been strong." Puerto Ricans do seem to have been busy shopping while the government struggles with $73 bill...

Just two days before the official opening of their first-ever department stores in Puerto Rico, the famous U.S. retail chains Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom are putting the finishing touches on what will be their coming ashore on the Caribbean island. Both department stores are the flagships of Puerto Rico's first luxury shopping mall, according to the management of the Mall of San Juan, which will open its doors this Thursday bent on attracting the island's most upscale clientele, who currently travel to Florida or New York to make their deluxe purchases. "It's our first establishment outside the U.S. and Canada, and also our first venture in the Spanish-speaking world, though not in an island market because we do business in Hawaii," Nordstrom's Brooke White told Efe. White, Nordstrom's vice president of corporate communications, now has the added responsibility of supervising the debut of the new 100,000-sq. foot (9,300-sq. meter) department store w...

U.S.-based developer Taubman Centers plans to open Puerto Rico's first luxury mall this week in San Juan, a $475 million project that is bringing retailers like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue to the island. The company, which was founded in 1950, operates nearly 30 malls, the majority of them in the United States, and has a Hong Kong unit that runs similar properties in Asia. The two-story Mall of San Juan will have 60,400 sq. meters (650,000 sq. feet) of space and offer shoppers more than 100 stores and restaurants. The developer broke ground in September 2012 on the project, which is about three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the San Juan airport. Taubman Centers chairman and CEO Robert S. Taubman, son of company founder Alfred Taubman, and The Mall of San Juan general manager Manuel Vazquez will officially open the shopping center on Thursday. Puerto Rican shoppers have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Nordstrom, which will occupy 9,300 sq. meters (100,000 sq. feet), and ...

The S&P Municipal Bond Puerto Rico Bond Index has barely eked out a positive return so far in 2015. Meanwhile, bond prices in the I ndex are averag ing 50 cents on the dollar.  The low point for the average bond price in Puerto Rico was July 8 th 2014 at 47.27 cents on the dollar.  Just as a comparison, the average price of bonds in the S&P Municipal Bond High Yield Index is over 57 cents and that includes bonds from Puerto Rico.  The average price of investment grade bonds in the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index is over 107.  So how much more pain is there?  That “four letter word”, uncertainty, continues to hang over the market.  The possible restructuring of the debt of the larger revenue bond issuers in Puerto Rico makes for a trying time for the Puerto Rico Senate. Needed tax reform is hotly debated and probably harder to implement. Another question weighing on the market is this: How much more underperformance will sta...

Caribbean countries import nearly 99 percent of their energy, largely in the form of petroleum products. Two countries in the region, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, have for years played a big role in covering the energy needs of the rest of the region. But with Venezuela experiencing an economic implosion, other Caribbean nations are looking for new sources of energy. U.S. interests are in a particularly good position to invest in the Caribbean's energy needs as oil prices have fallen, the United States has under gone a natural gas boom and relations with Cuba have shifted. Read More Is renewable energy ready to disrupt fossil fuels? "The Caribbean could offer investors tremendous opportunities," said Charles K. Ebinger, senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Opening relations with Cuba this year could be "quite dramatic," he said.        Cuba is planning wind projects and hopes to produce ...

Photo by Taubman Centers The Mall of San Juan is designed to reflect the rich culture and heritage of San Juan, but with a fresh, contemporary twist, Taubman Centers said. Photo by Taubman Centers Taubman Centers said The Mall of San Juan will be a state-of-the-art, two-level, enclosed mall featuring a 138,000-square-foot Nordstrom and a 100,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue. It will be the first upscale mall in Puerto Rico and the first and only location on the island for Nordstrom and Saks. The project will also include a hotel and casino. Bloomfield Hills-based  Taubman Centers Inc . (NYSE:TCO) is preparing to open an upscale mall in Puerto Rico next week. Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue will anchor the $475 million San Juan project set to open March 26. The 650,000-square-foot tri-level mall has been under construction since September 2012. It is located within five minutes of the international airport and convenient to the central business...

Puerto Ricans should expect to see an increase in gas prices after a new law known as the “ crudita ,” which raised the import tariff on a barrel of oil from US$9.25 to $15.50, went into effect on Sunday, March 15. + Gas prices will increase by three or four cents (around 6 percent), said the Puerto Rican Gasoline Retailers Association president, Ricardo Román. + Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla aims to balance the island’s budget by increasing the import tax on a barrel of oil. ( Pixabay ) The measure seeks to restore fiscal balance on the island and inject liquidity into the Government Development Bank. The government aims to collect about $185 million in taxes that would allow it to subsidize the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority and stabilize its finances. + “This is terrible, because the [sale] volumes have been diminishing in Puerto Rico. Cars are more efficient, the emigration … these phenomenons made the consu...

Two weeks after regulators closed Puerto Rico's Doral Bank, the financial institution's parent company, Doral Financial Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, Reuters reported . The initial seizure of the bank was partially due to a refusal by the U.S. commonwealth's government to pay $230 million in tax refunds claimed by Doral Financial, according to the newswire. Its parent's bankruptcy, meanwhile, "is the latest reminder of the financial crisis on the island," Reuters judged. The territory has about $73 billion in debt and is battling a weak economy, declining population and high unemployment, the Wall Street Journal detailed. Its governor, Alejandro García Padilla, has recently proposed a tax reform that proved so unpopular that islanders asked for his ouster on the White House petitions Web site.   Efforts to tackle Puerto Rico's financial woes are complicated by the commonwealth's legal status, the newspaper noted. It...

Three members of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives have proposed legislation to open the door to restructuring the commonwealth's more than $70 billion of debt. In a press release Sunday, Representatives Manuel Natal Albelo, Luis Vega Ramos, and Luis Raúl Torres Cruz called for a referendum on a constitutional amendment allowing for the restructuring of the debt of the commonwealth and its public corporations. The three are members of the Popular Democratic Party, along with Gov. Alejandro García Padilla. Discussions of debt restructuring are becoming increasingly common in Puerto Rico, which has had a weak economy for several years and an unbalanced budget for decades. Adoption of any of the restructuring proposals would probably lead to the biggest bond default in U.S. municipal history. "It's pretty clear they are trying to default." Triet Nguyen, managing partner of New Oak, said of the three legislators. He added that the proposals have little chance of...

Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis is the result of many things, chief among them a tax system that is unfair, inequitable and complicated. It’s a complicated problem but it is not an unsolvable one. The recession hit Puerto Ricans and Puerto Rican businesses hard, and too many have turned to gaming the tax system as a way to stay afloat. Our current system not only encourages this behavior, it penalizes work and productivity. It’s a system where some pay more to cheat than they would in taxes. That’s why Puerto Rico’s tax system needs more than just a reform -- it needs a total transformation. That is the only way to guarantee justice and equity for everyone. We have seen the results of frequent stopgap measures and reforms. Those measures created the complicated system that taxpayers and the government battle with today. The administration of Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla knows it is time to have a tax system that is stable and permanent, a system not subject to constant changes. The adm...

Government Development Bank President Melba Acosta has gone to bat for the tax reform during a hearing at the Senate Finance Committee, calling it the “most transcendental change proposals to get the island out of the crisis.” Taking on reform critics Thursday, Acosta said  the measure was not merely about raising a consumption tax to 16% from 7%, but also includes large income tax rate reductions, measures to combat evasion through self-regulation and redistributes the tax burden in a fairer manner. “During the last eight years, the government’s fiscal situation has presented an alarming picture,” Acosta said, adding that spending cuts, the creation of the sales & use tax (IVU by its Spanish acronym) and a previous tax reform have all failed to spark economic development. Casting blame on the preceding administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño, Acosta said that the $16.5 billion borrowed during 2009 to 2012 has “eroded our capacity to put more resources to develop the economy.” ...

Puerto Rico government revenue fell short of expectations in February, missing estimates by $6.5 million and pushing the cumulative shortfall for fiscal 2015 to $121.7 million, the Treasury Department reported Friday. Sales & use tax (IVU by its Spanish acronym) revenue totaled $102.8 million in February, $14.7 million short of estimates, and tax revenue targets were also missed for alcoholic beverage tax revenue ($3.9 million short), cigarettes ($2.4 million), motor vehicles ($14.1 million), rum rebate ($12.3 million) and other revenue ($6.3) million. The poor showing in these categories was offset by better than anticipated revenue from offshore affiliates of multinational manufacturers operating in Puerto Rico, or Act 154 taxes, which totaled $211.4 million, $30.4 million above expectations and individual income tax revenue, which totaled $158.5 million in February, $10.6 million above expectations, and corporate income tax, which totaled $37.8 million, $2 million above estima...

Puerto Rico reported that the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico’s liquidity position improved $33 million in February but its General Fund revenues came in $6 million short. by Robert Slavin Puerto Rico GDB Liquidity Improves; Revenue Misses

Puerto Rico is sending waves of concern through Wall Street and Capitol Hill, perhaps even more than Detroit did in 2013. This U.S. territory is likely headed toward insolvency and the main debt-restructuring proposal before Congress would shortchange investors and ignore badly needed governmental and fiscal reforms that would help place the island on a fiscally responsible path. The gravity of the issue was underscored late last month when the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a bill to extend Chapter 9 protection to some of Puerto Rico’s public corporations and municipalities. But while some on the island may want a quick fix that frees it from its current debt obligations, it is worth pausing for a moment to ask some critically important questions. Rather than dispensing with Puerto Rico’s current debt through Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, wouldn’t it be better to put in place mechanisms that seek to ensure that such fiscal disarray is avoided in the future? W...

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla's proposed tax overhaul, key to his plan to shore up the commonwealth's ability to pay debt service, has come under fire. Groups ranging from doctors to truckers to mayors have voiced opposition to a proposed shift from a 7% sales tax to a 16% value added tax, part of an overhaul that would also slash income taxes and eliminate a corporate receipts tax paid by large companies. The political uproar may force the government to abandon the VAT plan in favor of an increase in the sales tax rate, according to Municipal Market Analytics managing director Robert Donahue. On Friday, Puerto Rico House of Representatives Speaker Jaime Perelló said that the governor's original proposed tax reform didn't have the votes to pass in the House, according to Perelló's spokesman. Perelló is the leader of the governor's party, the Popular Democratic Party, in the House. Puerto Rico House Representative Rafael "Tatito" Hernand...

Puerto Rico's governor fought off criticism of his signature tax reform plan in a televised address on Monday, telling a skeptical public that the measures would benefit the poor and middle class while combating tax evasion in the indebted U.S. territory.   Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla's speech comes after weeks of public hearings where economists, business groups and community organizations voiced opposition to the plan. Protests have occurred on nearly a daily basis. The latest on Sunday at a sports complex in San Juan drew thousands, including business leaders and media personalities. The Caribbean island of 3.6 million is struggling with debt of more than $70 billion, an economy   that has been in or near recession for eight years, and a budget that regularly shows a deficit. Some estimates say up to 25 percent of Puerto Rico's   economy   is informal. "I am going to fight to the end for what I think is right. I did not come here to put a Band-Aid on the pro...

Alarming headlines about Puerto Rico’s deepening debt crisis have been appearing for months, but Congress only recently began more formally turning its attention to the maladies afflicting this U.S. territory. During a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Administrative Law, panel members considered legislation (H.R. 870) to make Puerto Rico’s public corporations and municipalities eligible for debtor status under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code. Yet, given the gravity of the situation, Congress ought to give serious consideration to a more long-term, comprehensive approach to Puerto Rico’s debt. It now appears that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may be insolvent for all intents and purposes, or on the brink of being so. Decades of spending too much, promising even more, dysfunctional (occasionally corrupt) governance, arbitrary tax collection procedures, and other factors made Puerto Rico particularly vulnerable to the headwi...

The U.S. economy   added 295,000 jobs  in February, the 12th straight month where job gains surpassed 200,000. That adds up to 3.3 million net new jobs, the best yearlong period of job gains in nearly 15 years. The headline jobless rate declined to 5.5%, the lowest since May 2008 and down from 5.7% in January. Measures of unemployment that include discouraged workers and marginally attached workers also declined. The broadest measure of underemployment, which also includes part-time workers who would like full-time work, declined to 11%, from 11.3% last month. The share of Americans participating in the labor force edged down slightly and remains near the lowest level in 36 years. The share of Americans with jobs was unchanged this month but has improved over the past year. Most of the employment gains over the past five years have come from full-time jobs. But the recovery has not yet been sufficient to restore the number of full-time jobs that the economy had before th...