
A startup investment manager has completed raising $100 million of equity for its debut fund.
The Houston shop, Marble Capital, is shooting for a 13-14% return by providing preferred equity to developers of multiÂfamily properties nationwide.
The operator aims to work with well-respected developers in top markets. It generally supplies $5 million to $15 million of capital per investment, in the portion of the capital stack between the construction loan and the developer’s own equity. For example, if a developer arranges a construction loan covering 60% of a project’s cost but can’t line up the remaining 40% as common equity, Marble might kick in 25% of the capital, reducing the developer’s common-equity commitment to 15%. Marble seeks a preferred return of 13- 15%
The value-added vehicle, Marble Capital Fund 1, held its initial close on $60 million of equity in October 2016. The final close came five weeks ago. Marble, which didn’t use a placement agent, raised the capital from wealthy individuals.
With leverage, the vehicle could have some $500 million of investment capacity. TI1e sponsor has already plowed about $30 million of equity into four investments and expects to inÂvest the rest by the end of next year.
In its largest investment to date, the fund took a $15.7 million preferred-equity stake at yearend 2016 in Sycamore Canyon, a 275-unit apartment project in Riverside, Calif. The property, being developed by Sunrise Luxury Living of HousÂton, is expected to be completed next year.
Marble was founded last year by president Carson McDaniel, formerly a capital-markets associate at Houston investment shop Allen Harrison Co.