Secondary Market/Investors

Former NY Governor Looking to Launch Distressed RE Fund

By PAUL JACKSON
June 11, 2008 11:48 AM CST

Advertisements

Former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer apparently isn’t waiting long to move into his next venture.

On the heels of his resignation in the wake of a prostitution scandal, Spitzer is planning a distressed real estate fund that will build off of his father’s business, according to a report Tuesday afternoon in the New York Sun.

The report claimed that Spitzer gathered several high-powered labor union officials in a conference room at his father’s business late last month and pitched them on his idea of a vulture fund that would snap up distressed real estate and failed developer projects in a bid to expand his father’s well-known business — a business that has quickly become crowded as giants including The Blackstone Group (BX: 10.72 -0.83%), the Carlyle Group, Marathon Asset Management and BlackRock Inc. (BLK: 167.65 -3.01%) have moved in to the same or somewhat related fields.

The Sun’s coverage said that Spitzer is targeting projects between $100 and $500 million, but that he has not yet set firm plans for a launch date or established particular purchase targets.

The former governor has not commented to the press since his departure from office in March.

Disclosure: The author held no positions in BX or BLK when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.


Get your HW Fix

Join nearly 10,000 bold subscribers who already get our daily email delivered to their inbox -- it's free, and a great way to ensure you don't miss something.

Events

2009 Jul 09 -- 2009 Jul 10

USFN Legal Issues in Mortgage Servicing Seminar

Geared towards in-house counsel, designed to discuss current legal issues in the mortgage servicing industry and real estate finance. Closed event in Chicago, Ill.; for more information, visit www.usfn.org.

2009 Oct 04 -- 2009 Oct 05

IMN's 15th Annual ABS East

Hosted at the Foutainebleau Resort Miami Beach in Miami, FL, the theme of this year's event is "Navigating a Path to Recovery" and alludes to decisive actions by the government and industry leaders to set a course that will hopefully lead to a revived and robust US securitization market. For more information, visit www.img.org.

2009 Oct 20 -- 2009 Oct 21

RMBS: Assessing Value and Risk

This two-day course in Washington, DC will equip market participants with the knowledge and skills to evaluate prime, Alt-A and subprime RMBS portfolios in order to assess their value and understand inherent risks. For more information, visit www.fitchratings.com.