Vector Group
Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE: VGR) is a Miami, Florida-based, publicly traded holding company founded by its Chairman, Bennett S. LeBow. Howard Lorber serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vector Group Ltd.. The company is headquartered in the Miami Tower in Downtown Miami.
The company's holdings include:
- Liggett Group a tobacco company founded in 1873. Liggett is the maker of Eve 120s branded discount products, and Pyramid, Grand Prix, Liggett Select products in the deep discount category. The company also produces a number of private-label and distributor-exclusive brands for a total of more than 136 brand styles.
- Vector Tobacco Inc., based in North Carolina, is engaged in research relating to reduced risk cigarette products and in the manufacture of conventional cigarettes.
- Liggett Vector Brands LLC, A company that coordinates the sales and marketing, along with certain support functions, for both Liggett Group and Vector Tobacco.
- New Valley LLC. (Formerly known as Western Union), New Valley is seeking to acquire additional operating companies and real estate companies. New Valley owns 50% of Douglas Elliman Realty, which operates the largest residential brokerage company in the New York metropolitan area. Douglas Elliman Realty has more than 60 offices and approximately 3,700 agents.
Investments and real estate holdings include:
- Morgans Hotel Group (5.6%), a hospitality company that owns & operates boutique hotels as well as acquiring and redeveloping in the United States and Europe. Hotels currently owned or managed include the Mondrian Hotel, Delano Hotel, and Shore Club Hotel.
- SG Blocks (8.8%), a company that redesigns, repurposes, and converts heavy-gauge steel cargo shipping containers into safe green building blocks for commercial, industrial, and residential building construction applications. It also offers architectural and engineering design, pre-development, and project management services, as well as oversight of the building erection, cladding, and finishes.
- CoCrystal Discovery, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of serious and chronic viral diseases.
- Cardo Medical, an orthopedic medical device company, designs, develops, and markets reconstructive joint devices and spinal surgical devices in the United States.
- OPKO Health, a specialty healthcare company, engaged in the discovery, development, and commercialization of proprietary pharmaceuticals, drug delivery technologies, diagnostic systems, and instruments for the treatment, diagnosis, and management of ophthalmic disorders.
- Sesto Holdings S.r.l.. New Valley, through its NV Milan LLC subsidiary, acquired a 7.2% interest in Sesto Holdings S.r.l. for $5 million in October 2010. Sesto holds a 42% interest in an entity that has purchased approximately 322 acres in Milan, Italy. Sesto intends to develop the land as a multi-parcel, multi-building mixed use urban regeneration project.
- 100 Eleventh Avenue. A subsidiary of New Valley LLC owns 40% of New Valley Oaktree Chelsea Eleven LLC, which lent $29 million and contributed $1 million in capital to Chelsea Eleven LLC, which is developing a condominium project in Manhattan, New York. (www.nouvelchelsea.com) The development, which features a 23-story tower at the intersection of 19th Street and West Highway, along the Hudson River in Manhattan, has been designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel and consists of 54 luxury residential units and one commercial unit. The development received a temporary certificate of occupancy in October 2009.
- Fifty Third-Five Building. In 2010, New Valley, through its NV 955 LLC subsidiary, contributed $18 million to a joint venture, Fifty Third-Five Building LLC (“JV”), of which it owns 50%. In 2010, the JV acquired a defaulted real estate loan, collateralized by real estate located in New York City for approximately $35.5 million. The previous lender had commenced proceedings seeking to foreclose its mortgage. Upon acquisition of the loan, the JV succeeded to the rights of the previous lender in the litigation. On April 27, 2011, the court granted the JV's motion for summary judgment, dismissing certain substantive defenses raised by the borrower and the other named parties. The borrower has challenged the validity of the assignment from the previous lender to the JV and the litigation is ongoing.
- Escena. In March 2008, a subsidiary of New Valley purchased a loan collateralized by a substantial portion of a 450-acre approved master planned community in Palm Springs, California known as “Escena.” The loan, which was in foreclosure, was purchased for its $20 million face value plus accrued interest and other costs of approximately $1.5 million. The collateral consisted of 867 residential lots with site and public infrastructure, an 18-hole golf course, a substantially completed clubhouse, and a seven-acre site approved for a 450-room hotel. In April 2009, New Valley’s subsidiary entered into a settlement agreement with a guarantor of the loan, which required the guarantor to satisfy its obligations under a completion guaranty by completing improvements to the project in settlement, among other things, of its payment guarantees. On April 15, 2009, New Valley completed the foreclosure process and on April 16, 2009, took title to the collateral.
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