Anthony Scaramucci Loses His Partner For Planned $3B Opportunity Zone Fund

Just a few months after Anthony Scaramucci announced his return to the private equity world following a notoriously brief stint at the White House, he is already facing a hurdle.

Scaramucci's firm, SkyBridge Capital, announced in November that it planned to raise $3B to launch a real estate investment trust focused on opportunity zone investments alongside Virginia-based EJF Capital. EJF Capital recently pulled out of that partnership, The Real Deal reports, and SkyBridge is looking for a replacement.

SkyBridge pulled out of the partnership because of concerns over EJF's lack of experience managing real estate investments, according to The Real Deal. An EJF official declined to comment when reached by Bisnow. 

Scaramucci's opportunity zone fund has the biggest name and number attached to it of any of the ones made public, but companies such as RXR Realty, Youngwoo & Associates and the Kushner-family backed Cadre have all declared their intentions to raise hundreds of millions to invest in opportunity zones.

There is momentum in the private and public sectors to move quickly to take advantage of the program, which allows investors to transfer capital gains to a Qualified Opportunity Fund and defer or even avoid paying taxes on those gains, depending on how long the funds stay invested. But many experts have approached the program with caution: It is unclear when the Department of the Treasury will release its final guidelines around the program; it canceled a scheduled hearing because of the ongoing government shutdown.

UPDATE, JAN. 17, 12:40 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to include SkyBridge's explanation for the partnership's dissolution.