Investment clubs — groups of like-minded investors who pool capital to acquire stakes in property or business interests — have been around for decades. These days, those clubs are proving to have deep pockets and a big appetite for real assets.
“Anecdotally, I think club deals are becoming a lot more attractive,” says Monte Lee-Wen, president and founder of the PPA Group, a real estate investment company based in Austin. In the past, family offices were more apt to invest directly with a sponsor and general partner. “Some family offices feel that they have been burned on some of those kinds of transactions, and they are looking for other families that, one, have a stake in the deals that they’re doing and, two, that have expertise,” says Lee-Wen.