TARP Capital Launches First Fund

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-TARP Capital LLC, an investment and asset management company, has priced an underwritten IPO of 100 common units in its first fund, TARP Fund I. The goal is gross proceeds of $5 million, which will then be used to acquire single-tenant, long-term, net-lease assets.

The prospectus for the fund will be available on Dec. 18, and the company partner and CEO John J. Cona says TARP FUND I is the first of what he hopes will be four similar funds during the next 12 months. “What’s unique about the fund is that, unlike public non-traded REITs who have a large pool, our model is that each fund is more or less one investment,” Cona tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s one asset, maybe two, that have been pre-identified.” In this way, he continues, investors will see what they’re investing in. “The concept is that the investing public can build its own portfolio, at choice,” Cona adds.

Cona partnered with Brett Obulien earlier this year to launch TARP Capital Investment LLC. Both men had, at one time, worked for Donald Bren in California. Before starting TARP Capital Investment, Cona was director of acquisitions with Cole Capital, a part of Cole Real Estate Investments.

Cona says he and Obulien came to the realization that, when it came to investments, costs needed to be contained on the investment side. He points out that, for example, if a publically traded REIT has an SB&A of almost 6%, which is standard, investors buying at an 8 cap aren’t going to benefit a whole lot. The goal, Cona comments, was to reduce the costs so the investor would benefit. Cona says given the TARP Capital model, the costs to investors have been reduced by as much as 65%. Meanwhile, TARP Capital is relying on a public, direct-to-investor platform for the capital raise, also to help lower costs, Cona says.