Buying mid-sized real-estate multifamily residential properties, Arel Capital
Arel Capital focuses on buying real-estate assets, with an emphasis on mid-sized ($10-$50 million) multifamily residential properties, primarily in the US, with the goal of generating annualized net investment returns of 15% to 20%. Arel Capital was founded by Richard Leibovitch and Gabriel Bousbib in 2012. Mr. Leibovitch was a founding partner and the former Chief Investment Officer of Gottex Fund Management, an $8 billion publicly-traded asset management firm. Mr. Bousbib was the Chief Operating Officer of Gottex Fund Management. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Leibovitch has been investing in multi-family value-add rental properties and he now owns a portfolio valued in excess of $100 mm in the strategy. Arel’s other key principals include Teddy Schiff and Eric Lagdameo, who bring respectively 10+ years of real-estate development experience in the New York City market and more than $850 mm in real-estate acquisitions in the U.S. multi-family space in the past 15 years. Lastly, the firm’s principals co-invest in any proposed transaction and have allocated, together with two silent capital partners, about $80 mm of investment capital for Arel Capital transactions. Since its launching in the first quarter of 2013, Arel Capital has invested about $65 mm of equity capital in 6 transactions for a total real-estate value of $130 mm.
Arel Capital targets Multi-Family acquisitions in large metropolitan center with diverse and growing economies. Arel focuses on four investment strategies:
- Value Add – The ability to increase occupancy and/or operating income of multi-family properties, through renovations and other enhancements.
- Carry – The ability to acquire properties below replacement cost, targeting net cash-on-cash returns of 12% to 15% and Net ROI’s of 16%+.
- Bridge Financing – The ability to source opportunities in lending in advance of construction and first mortgages.
- Opportunistic – The opportunistic participation in other real estate segments (e.g. new development, distressed and bankruptcy auctions)
Arel Capital Biographies:
Richard G. Leibovitch, Managing Partner
} Richard Leibovitch is an investment professional with 28 years of experience, managing risk and identifying investment opportunities across a wide array of asset classes. Mr. Leibovitch, through his holding companies, owns a residential portfolio of approximately $100 mm value, which he has acquired, renovated and upgraded over the past 20 years
} From 2003 to 2012, Mr. Leibovitch served at the Chief Investment Officer, a member of its Executive Committee and board member of Gottex Fund Management, a publicly-traded fund of hedge fund firm with over $7 billion in assets under management
} From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Leibovitch was the Global Head of Trading and Derivatives for Putnam Investments. He was a member of their Executive and Management Committees
} From 1985 to 1998, Mr. Leibovitch was a senior executive at JP Morgan, where he held a number of senior trading positions including Head of Derivatives Trading, Head of Mortgage-Backed Securities Trading and Co-Head of Equity Derivatives
} Mr. Leibovitch received a B.A. (Hons.) from McGill University and an M.Phil from Cambridge University
Gabriel Bousbib, Managing Partner
} Mr. Bousbib formerly served as Chief Operating Officer for Gottex Fund Management, and a member of its Executive Committee. He also served as Executive Chairman of LUMA Solutions Services, the services arm of Gottex Fund Management
} Prior to joining Gottex in June 2005, Mr. Bousbib served as President and Chief Executive Officer of PlusFunds, a hedge fund managed account platform, until December 2004
} From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Bousbib held a number of operating and corporate development positions with the Reuters Group, including Managing Director of business development as well as Chief Operating Officer in the risk management division
} Mr. Bousbib started his career in the securities industry in 1987 with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, in Merrill Lynch’s global derivatives group
} Mr. Bousbib holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and is a graduate from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris
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