PAGE 2
SYNDICATIONS Q & A WITH MARY ANN LANG, CONT.
The has experienced a lot of growth in the last 6 months; how does this play into CREA’s long-term goals? Syndications team Yes. While we have several new faces, none of them are new to LIHTC. Growing a group certainly has its challenges, but we have benefited from the knowledge of our recent hires, finding best practices, and reinforcing our own procedures. We’re excited about how this will enable us to better serve the needs of investors with strategic planning and relationship development. This in turn reflects long term company goals to continue to be a relationship-focused company that grows organically with our clients. What is Syndications doing to prepare for an increase in the corporate tax rate and how will that affect the appetite for affordable housing investments? From what we’ve seen, investors are not yet ready to price in any increases to corporate tax rates. The Syndications Team will run sensitivities at higher tax rates for investors who request them. CREA has been investing in DEI and social impact. Are you seeing an increase in Investors who are also making these initiatives a priority? Yes, we have seen this across the board. We have seen investors who have not been in the market for a while come back into the market to invest in specific areas or developments that positively affect minority populations. In addition,
a number of our bank clients have created their own initiatives and set aside dollars dedicated to specific populations. To make sure CREA understands which properties in our pipeline meet specific criteria, we’ve updated our tracking database to include additional analysis, so that we can sort and review a pipeline of properties that may fit a particular investor’s criteria. How is Geo fairing? The Syndications team mascot is happy, healthy and enjoys walks in the Back Bay. He is eagerly awaiting a full office staff to give him attention. - As an aside, the Syndications team is very serious about our love for dogs and puppies! We have 9 canine family members between our 14 team members and I anticipate that number to grow.
...continued from page 1
that helped protect investors’ interests and provide their credit committees comfort to continue closing transactions. still impacting the world we live in, so we will continue to implement some of these changes and adapt as needed. Unfortunately, COVID is What can CREA anticipate from our investors through the end of 2021? Due toCOVID, one thingwe noticed at the beginning of 2021 was that many investors were delayed in getting their internal directives for investing (for various reasons, including new CRA initiatives and concerns of tax liability). I believe this will lead to some additional activity mid to late this year, once the investment teams have decided on their goals. Another change we’ve seen recently is that our investor contacts have changed due to moves between organizations, bank mergers, etc. While this is not a new concept, given our lack of in-person meetings, our established calls with investors and consistent outreach to clients is critical for us to understand their current needs or initiatives. Proprietary versus multi-fund placement, new debt focus, social impact investment considerations, etc. - These are the types of changes or requests we are seeing and have been working closely with investors to meet specific needs and goals.
Any notable stories of success or unique anecdotes? The two CREA Funds currently in the market have been very successful. The CREA CA Fund is the largest CA Fund in the market at $129M. The CREA National Fund closing in June is currently subscribed to $400M. These are big feats in this environment. We owe all of this to our clients and their trust in CREA.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online