TOP CORPORATE AT TORNEYS
BRUCE C. ROSETTO
GREENBERG TRAURIG, P.A.
Bruce C. Rosetto represents
private and public companies,
private equit y funds and
i nve s tm e n t ba n ks . H e has
broad experience in public
company securities work, private placement financings,
corporate governance and alternate assets. His practice
focuses on entrepreneurs and small to middle market
public companies throughout the U.S. in a variety of
industries, including life sciences, biotech, banking,
real estate, environmental, manufacturing, technology,
entertainment and many others. He also forms private
equity funds and family offices and represents affiliated
portfolio companies. In addition, he also advises clients
on raising capital for and establishing regional centers and
projects that qualify for the EB-5 program.
WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN
THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
The future of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program since the
new rules adopted on Nov. 21, 2019 remains unclear. Since
that date, new investment slowed to a trickle.
Notwithstanding, I have seen a few trends appear. For those
projects located in a targeted employment area, investors
are willing to make the payment of the new $900,000
investment amount. For projects no longer in a targeted
employment area, I have seen some developers offer
potential investors much higher rates of return as an
incentive for the investor to risk $1,800,000. Nonetheless,
the number of investors has dwindled considerably from the
past.
HOW ARE YOU HANDLING
THE ISSUE OF REDEPLOYMENT?
The trend here is to design a redeployment program that
seeks to mitigate risks while balancing the needs for
projects to be able to redeploy an EB-5 investor’s capital due
to the long length of time involved in filing for a permanent
green card. Ensuring full disclosure and transparency to
comply with U.S. securities laws, protecting against claims
of breach of fiduciary duty and providing investors with
some voice in the redeployment of capital are critical steps
to limit liability exposure to the sponsors and developers
while enabling the investors to make new investment
decisions.
DAVID A. SUDECK
JEFFER MANGELS BUTLER & MITCHELL LLP
David A. Sudeck is a senior
member of JMBM 's Global
Hospitality Group and JMBM's
real estate depar tment. His
practice primarily involves the
complex issues associated
with hotels, resor ts, vacation ownership proper ties,
restaurants, golf courses and spas. He represents owners
in the purchase and sale, development, construction,
financing, leasing, and sale -leaseback of proper ties,
and advises them on their branding and management
agreements, including hotel management and franchise
agreements. He has helped hotel developers source over
$1 billion of EB-5 financing. He has significant experience
in real estate finance and represents several financial
institutions and EB-5 lenders as a special counsel to their
hospitality interests.
WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN
THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
We have seen a marked slowdown in the time it takes to
raise EB-5 capital as a result of currency constraints,
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EB5 INVESTORS M AGAZINE
retrogression, misinformation in the marketplace, and the
potential for revised regulations or new legislation that
would lower the now increased minimum investment
amount or that would allow for priority processing of
application.
HOW ARE YOU HANDLING
THE ISSUE OF REDEPLOYMENT?
We are primarily involved in the redeployment of EB-5 capital.
In most cases, our developer clients are benefitting from
redeployment capital as a bridge loan with a term based on the
immigration status of the foreign investors, often while the
regional center or bridge lender is attempting to source new
EB-5 capital. The challenge is predicting the timing for the new
capital raise to match the timing for repayment of the investor.
In other cases, we are simply redeploying EB-5 funds to other
assets to allow for the refinance of the already opened and
operating property that has benefitted from such funds during
construction.