SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci claims his Opportunity Zone fund has $2 billion worth of deals in its pipeline.
Scaramucci appeared on a segment broadcast by Fox Business Network on Friday to talk about the economy, the federal Opportunity Zone program and his hedge fund’s recently-launched fund, which will be structured as a REIT and will focus on investing in Opportunity Zones.
SkyBridge’s Opportunity Zone REIT, known as SOZ REIT, is the highest-profile entity to tap into the Opportunity Zone program using a REIT structure. It is being managed by sub-adviser EJF Capital and is seeking to raise $3 billion.
During the Fox segment, Scaramucci said SkyBridge plans to the make the REIT public and claims the entity’s pipeline included deals across the country that would require estimated investment of between $5 million to $35 million “to get the game started.”
He noted that to qualify for the federal program, SOZ REIT will be purchasing properties in designated Opportunity Zones and then making capital improvements. He mentioned a port in South Carolina and hotel in San Francisco as two examples of SOZ REIT’s projects. [Fox News] — Erin Hudson
Anthony Scaramucci is attending The Real Deal’s upcoming executive summit, Future City 2019, in the Bahamas later this month.