News
Eyeball Into Equity
January 25, 2011
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| Last week, we joined YMBA for its winter luncheon at the Union League Club, which featured a peek into private equity with Savanna Real Estate Fund managing director Kevin Chisholm, Westbrook Partners COO Sush Torgalkar, and Madison Capital managing partner Richard Wagman, moderated by Eastern Consolidated’s David Schechtman. The trio discussed some of the deals they transacted last year (Westbrook had $2B in equity to place over the past 18 months, while Madison Capital acquired $300M in NY), what they learned, and what the deal pipeline looks like. |
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| There’s certainly more deal flow than last year, Kevin notes, asinterest in owning real estate increases. But the interest brings along more competition domestically, says Sush (here with YMBA’s executive board), who adds that there are moreinternational opportunities. And distress has evaporated quicklybecause of the strength of the NYC market, but Kevin points out that we’ll see an increase in untraditional distress this year (likedivorces and partnership splits) on which his firm is focusing. Richard foresees more deals, but they won’t be as prime—perhaps in the outer boroughs. You also have to be more creative andtenacious when making deals, he adds. Madison is looking at bothlong-term deals and 12- to 24-month flips. |
