Published on:

Financing Real Estate Projects with EB-5 Funds

By

On August 25, 2014, Catherine DeBono Holmes was featured in the GlobeSt.com article, Financing Projects with EB-5 Funds?, posted by Natalie Dolce, national executive editor of the publication:

“Some of the largest real estate developers in the country, including Related Cos., Silverstein Properties, Forest City Ratner, and many others, have raised hundreds of millions of dollars through the EB-5 program to help finance their largest real estate developments,” [Holmes] says. “Smaller real estate developers have also been successful in raising EB-5 financing to support their development projects.”

“There have also been some EB-5 financed projects that have failed, and some cases of blatant fraud by a few bad actors, she notes. “The recent Fortune Magazine article about the Chicago Convention Center case that occurred in 2012 painted a dark portrait, making it appear as if this one case was representative of the entire EB-5 program. The article failed to present an accurate portrayal of the EB-5 program as a whole, failed to mention the multitude of EB-5 financed projects that have succeeded, and caused confusion among real estate developers about whether or not EB-5 financing is a viable source of capital for their projects.”

Dolce wrote:

“In response to the questions real estate developers are asking today about whether they should consider EB-5 financing as a potential source of capital for their projects, we talked with Catherine DeBono Holmes about some key facts about the requirements, timing, marketing, risks and recommended procedures for EB-5 financing.”

In this article, Catherine DeBono Holmes answers the following questions about financing projects with EB-5 funds:

• What are the most important elements of a successful EB-5 financing?

• How long does it take before a developer receives the proceeds of an EB-5 financing?

• How much does EB-5 financing cost?

• What are the risks of using EB-5 financing and how does a developer protect against those risks?

Click here to read the full article.

Catherine DeBono Holmes is Chair of the Investment Capital Law Group at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, and the is the publisher of the Investment Law Blog. She has represented more than 50 real estate developers in obtaining EB-5 financing for their projects.

To review all of her articles on this topic, click on “EB-5 Financing” in the Topics menu to the right, and scroll down through all the articles we have posted.

In addition to forming EB-5 Regional Centers for investment in U.S. business through the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, JMBM’s Investment Capital Law Group assists clients with forming U.S. and non-U.S. private investment funds for investment in real estate, mortgage loans, securities and other investments; sourcing and raising investment capital for hotel, multi-family and mixed use real estate developments throughout the U.S.; acting as securities counsel in connection with offerings of investment securities in compliance with exemptions from registration under the Securities Act of 1933 in the U.S. under SEC Regulation D and outside the U.S. under SEC Regulation S; and assisting securities issuers with crowdfunding.

Click here to see a full list of the services provided by JMBM’s Investment Capital Law Group.

Cathy HolmesCatherine DeBono Holmes is the chair of JMBM’s Investment Capital Law Group, and has practiced law at JMBM for over 30 years. She specializes in EB-5 immigrant investment offerings and hotel and real estate transactions made by Chinese investors in the U.S. Within the Investment Capital Law Group, Cathy focuses on business formations for entrepreneurs, private securities offerings, structuring and offering of private investment funds, and business and regulatory matters for investment bankers, investment advisers, securities broker-dealers and real estate/mortgage brokers. Contact Cathy at CHolmes@jmbm.com or 310.201.3553.