LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rising Realty Partners and G2 Investment Group announced today the formation of Rising Realty Merchant Bank (RRMB) which will provide global investors the opportunity to invest in multiple real estate product types throughout coastal California. The leadership of RRMB includes two nationally recognized leaders in real estate and finance: Nelson Rising and J. Todd Morley. The private venture anticipates raising $3 billion initially.
RRMB will initially focus on real estate opportunities within coastal California, a strength for Rising Realty Partners given the experience of its principles in shepherding high profile real estate developments through entitlement, construction and occupancy throughout the Golden State. The company will provide equity investors with shares in proceeds from multiple real estate product types instead of the traditional fund approach of investing in a single type of real estate (such as office, retail or single family homes).
Additionally, RRMB will not be constrained by the standard 10 year horizon of most real estate funds, but instead create lasting equity and long term enterprise value. As a Merchant Bank, RRMB will also offer equity opportunities for foreign investment in full compliance with the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act.
Rising, Chairman & CEO of Rising Realty Partners, has previously served as CEO of two large, publicly traded real estate companies, as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington, DC and the Grand Avenue Committee in Los Angeles. Morley is Chairman & CEO of G2 Investment Group. Previous to G2, he co-founded the global investment firm Guggenheim Partners.
In addition to Rising and Morley, Christopher Rising, President & COO of Rising Realty Partners and Trevor Neilson, President of G2 Investment Group, will play pivotal roles in the growth of RRMB.
Christopher Rising began his career as an attorney at Pilsbury Madison & Sutro and has been a Senior Vice President of Asset Transactions at MPG Office Trust, Inc. and also served as Chief of Staff to brokerage legend John C. Cushman III at Cushman Realty Corporation in Los Angeles. Neilson, a former staff member in the Clinton White House, previously worked for Bill and Melinda Gates at their family office and foundation. He is also Co-Founder of Global Philanthropy Group, and is active in a large number of philanthropic ventures around the world.
“We are extremely proud and excited to form a new merchant banking holding company with Nelson and Christopher Rising and their very talented team. G2’s investment model is to create investment partnerships with the best asset operators in any given discipline. The Risings certainly meet this criteria given decades of successfully investing in and developing world class real estate projects. We also feel this is an important time in the economic recovery and a critical moment caused by monetary policy. Our belief is that hard assets which offer inflation-protected returns will out-perform dollar and paper-based assets as we finally eliminate quantitative easing and the inevitable rise in interest rates,” said Morley.
Founded in 2009, G2’s investment strategy is focused on “pillars” of human need -- food, water, energy, real estate, health care, communication, education -- which often create asymmetrical return profiles, many of which act as a hedge against inflation. Los Angeles-based Rising Realty Partners currently owns and operates a portfolio of 16 buildings totaling more than 2.4 million square feet across coastal California.
“I am extremely pleased to be partnering with Todd Morley, Trevor Neilson and G2 Investment Group. They bring a global reputation in the capital markets and an unprecedented level of respect amongst sovereign wealth funds and ultra-high net worth individuals. It’s well known that Todd played a seminal role in the structuring and branding of Guggenheim Partners and that smart, active and highly liquid investors trust his judgment. Together, we will be able to offer investors a real estate investment platform that does not exist today,” said Nelson Rising.