According to a statement, the new entity, which will raise capital for owners and developers, will match "value-added opportunities with astute investors." It will be the latest in a long series of real estate and hospitality industry ventures for entertainer and TV-show producer Griffin, who was the long-time owner of the 582-room Beverly Hilton Hotel until he sold it in 2003. As GlobeSt.com reported at the time, that sale, to Oasis West LLC, yielded $130 million.
His real estate holdings also have included Resorts International in Atlantic City and Paradise Island Bahamas. Griffin sold his Merv Griffin Enterprises, including Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, to the Coca-Cola Co. for $250 million in 1986.
Zisler most recently was at Jones Lang LaSalle, where he established an investment banking group that specialized in raising joint-venture capital and debt finance for clients like Higgins Development, the Griffin Group and Portman Properties. Before that, he was a founder of Apogee Associates, which raised capital for developers and owners, including national REITs and clients such as the Rockefeller Group, investor Marvin Davis, GE Capital and TIAA. Zisler was a Jones Lang Wootton partner in the 1980s and founded that firm's pension-advisory business.
Cohen's background is in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and entity finance as well as entertainment. As president and CEO of the Griffin Group, he has responsibility for all of Griffin's companies. Before joining the entertainer's firm, Cohen represented Griffin in the sale of his television properties to Coca-Cola and was later involved in the leveraged buyout of Coca Cola's interests in Columbia Pictures and Tri-Star Pictures.
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