“The opportunity for residential and commercial real estate investment and development in this country is extraordinary … The residential sector is vibrant” – Quintin Primo, Co-Founder (Capri Capital Partners)
Mr. Primo makes some excellent points regarding the real estate potential in Nigeria. In his words, there are “opportunities wherever you throw a stone”. However, he states that Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, has just one “really nice” hotel. Off the top of my mind, I can think of five decent hotels in Abuja: one Sheraton, one Transorp Hilton, and three Proteas. Five hotels might not seem like much but please keep in mind that Nigeria is still a so-called “developing” country. We will get there … one step at a time.
Quintin Primo co-founded Capri Capital Partners in 1992. Mr. Primo has 28 years of real estate investment experience including serving as Managing Director, Q. Primo & Company, Inc. and Vice President, Citicorp’s Chicago commercial real estate lending team. Quintin Primo has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree (Finance with Honors) from Indiana University.
According to Forbes, Mr. Primo is one of the top 10 richest African-Americans, with a net worth of $300 million. According to a Forbes’ May 2009 article, titled the “The Wealthiest Black Americans”, Quintin Primo III, a minister’s son grew up in Chicago. He earned his MBA at Harvard in 1979 and took a job in Citicorp’s real estate lending division. Primo founded Capri Capital in 1992 with childhood friend Daryl Carter and achieved initial success extending mezzanine loans to small borrowers that larger firms neglected to serve. Today Capri’s portfolio is larded with apartment complexes; the firm’s assets under management have swelled to over $4 billion. Last June Capri announced it will invest $2 billion in a Saudi venture, building hotels, office towers and condos in one of King Abdullah’s anointed “economic zones.” Primo also plans to invest $1 billion in distressed assets and half-built construction projects in the U.S. with financing from the U.S. Treasury.
Capri Capital Partners, based in Chicago, USA, is a multi-billion dollar global real estate investment and development firm with $4.2 billion of assets under management. According to Capri’s website, “Capri continues to seek investment opportunities in markets that are underserved or imbalanced with respect to capital availability and/or real estate demand/supply fundamentals”.
Visit Capri Capital Partners’ website …
Read Forbes’ May 2009 article: “The Wealthiest Black Americans” …
This clip was aired on CNBC on May 21, 2009.
