Guardian Becomes Majority Stakeholder In LEI

Lowe Enterprise Investors and its parent company Lowe Enterprises are parting ways as Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America buys a majority equity interest in the company. As part of the transaction, LEI will rebrand as Broadshore Capital Partners and senior management’s ownership in the company will increase significantly from 6% to 20%. The firm will retain its current staff and offices, and co-CEOs Bradford W. Howe and Bleecker P. Seaman, III, will continue to lead the firm.

“This is a chance for us to consolidate the ownership with a very strong financial partner that believes in our business and that has been an owner is our business for eight years and believes in our management team,” Howe tells GlobeSt.com. “This is also a chance for us to continue to grow our team and provide the same level of high service for our clients.”

Guardian has been a 50% stakeholder in the business since 2010, and as such, this was a natural progression. “This has always been a real possibility,” adds Howe. “As Guardian has gotten to know our team and gotten more comfortable with our team and our strategy, they have come closer to this acquisition. From a management perspective, their involvement in our business is valuable for a number of reasons. They have a great expertise in the financial world and their capital is important to co-investing alongside our clients in certain cases.”

The new name, Broadshore Capital Partners, is simply part of the transition, especially considering Lowe is exiting the business. We felt it wouldn’t be appropriate to keep the name. We felt that rebranding would be the best way for us to communicate to the market what we are tying to do going forward,” adds Howe.

Other than the name change, however, little will change in terms of the firm’s strategy. It will continue to focus on value-add multifamily, hospitality and office assets, and is looking to continue to grow the business. “We are focused on creating value at the asset level, and we do that by having very talented teams integrated into our business all the way down from acquisitions, construction management and asset management,” explains Howe. “Our strategy will continue to focus on investing in areas where we have the expertise to create value at the asset level.”

In terms of growth an expansion, Broadshore is looking to expand its footprint in senior housing. “We will expand out capabilities, and we have been doing that now for a year,” says Howe. “We are continuing to grow by bringing in talent that has specific expertise in product types and markets.”