WASHINGTON, DC-Ritz Banc Group, a private equity and alternative asset manager, is taking advantage of a combo of factors to step up investment in US commercial real estate. These factors are namely investment ties and contacts in the Middle East and the growing desire on the part of these ties and contacts – as well as other foreign based entities -- to invest in stable and profitable asset classes, such as US commercial real estate.
"We see this current environment as an opportunity," managing director Nasr El Hage Jr. tells GlobeSt.com. "My background is Lebanese and we know from our sources and first hand that Middle Eastern investors like the stability that the US offers."
To that end, Ritz Banc Group along with Stonebridge Investments, just acquired Spalding Crossing, a 252 units class A multifamily asset in Atlanta, on behalf of a Saudi family office. The transaction size was valued in the $40 million range.
The company is looking at additional investments in California, Florida and Texas, El Hage says. It currently focuses on multifamily but the company is building out a platform for office and hotel assets, he says. In addition, the company is establishing an office in Dubai.
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