. More recently, in December, Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, one of the world’s largest private real estate investment funds, had to limit redemptions because so many investors wanted their money back.
The B.C. loan was intended to fund the development of a seven tower, mixed-use development in downtown Richmond but Romspen alleges that no substantive work has been done While court battles are common in private lending because higher-risk borrowers are more likely to default, Romspen’s current fight with Mr. El-Hinn is notable because their business relationship goes back 24 years, according to court filings. Mr. El-Hinn is also Romspen’s largest borrower.
In his response to Romspen’s request for a receiver, Mr. El-Hinn argued last week that variables such as the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the remaining unsold properties. “Since two of the largest mortgaged properties, including the most valuable asset, Woodbine Mall, were retail malls, their marketability was severely negatively impacted for obvious reasons,” he wrote.
The key words being “the Fund returned” ie “as in the past”. No lending limits to an individual borrower to mitigate Risks like this?