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OXBRIDGE AND ARGENTUM TO BUILD $ 1 BILLION MULTIFAMILY INVESTMENT
PORTFOLIO IN THE UNITED STATES
(PRESS RELEASE UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL MARKET CLOSE ONMARCH 30, 2011 AT 4:30 GMT)
London, United Kingdom and Vancouver, British Columbia – March 30, 2011 -- Oxbridge Ventures, Inc., a
Vancouver, Canada based private investment group, today announced that it had signed a funding agreement with
the Argentum Capital Group Ltd, an offshore hedge fund entity, to arrange up to $1 billion in investments in the US
multifamily sector over the next 60 months. Both companies will commit up to a $100 million of their own
internally sourced equity and leverage existing financing relationships through syndications to achieve their stated
investment target. The group is already working on more than $300 million of such syndications.
Appetite among investors, including a growing number of offshore foreign investors, in the multifamily sector in the
United States is rising quickly as asset values begin to rise in key regional and local markets. Values of apartment
buildings rose 16% in 2010, according to real estate brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap, after falling a staggering
27% between 2006 and 2009. Indeed, according to Greenstreet Advisors, a research firm, values of apartment
buildings owned by real estate investment trusts are now within 10% of their pre-crisis 2007 peak.
Apartment values are being propelled by powerful supply-and-demand forces. Renter households now top a record
37 million after increasing more than 3.5 million in the past five years. Another 4.4 million rental households are
expected to be added by 2015, according to Greenstreet Advisors, a multifamily advisory firm. The severe impact
of the ongoing foreclosure crisis is also rapidly reducing home ownership, which has fallen a full 3.5 percentage
points in just a few years, from a high of 69% in 2004 to 65% in 2011. Every 1% decline in home ownership
creates an additional 1 million renters. Supply of new multifamily housing has also been severely constrained by
the devastating paucity of bank lending into the US housing sector.
The fund being established by Oxbridge and Argentum will leverage growing investor interest in the US market and
particularly, but not limited to, foreign investor interest. The fund will focus on new construction, distressed
property and properties requiring significant repositioning. Half the fund will invest in and provide equity for
projects brought to market pursuant to various US government lending programs, including programs supported by
the FHA, HUD, USDA, and Fannie, Freddie and Ginie Mae. The remainder of the fund will be allocated to non
government supported projects and allocated to various pension funds, banks, insurance companies and foreign and
offshore entities. Together, government sponsored enterprises hold about $317 billion of multifamily mortgages on
their books, about 38% of all multifamily debt, according to the Mortgage Banker’s Association. About $103 billion
of debt is in CMBS and other asset backed securities, with the rest distributed between banks, insurance companies
and state and local governments.
“We are extremely excited to have partnered with Argentum on this ambitious new project, which significantly
extends our financing capacity in this rapidly accelerating sector of the US real estate market,” said Karim Rajani,
the Chief Executive Officer of Oxbridge Ventures.
About Oxbridge Ventures
Oxbridge Ventures, Inc. is a private investment company that has arranged more than $3.5 billion in financing for
various real estate and corporate finance projects over the past 60 months. See www.oxbridgeventures.com.
About The Argentum Capital Group
The Argentum Capital Group provides discrete placement, advisory and highly proprietary technical and trading
services to the offshore investment community. See www.argentumfx.com.
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