New York-headquartered Greystone, a commercial real estate lending, investment and advisory company, has entered the Indian market.

The company is planning to raise $57.5 million for Astoria Waterfront, a real estate project in the US, via 115 investors worldwide. The project has already bagged commitment from 35 investors.

Out of the balance 80 investors, the company is targeting 30 per cent from India.

Greystone’s EB-5 practice provides foreign investors access to EB-5-compliant investment opportunities and investment servicing, and manages the EB-5 application process from end-to-end.

The EB-5 programme is a US government immigration programme that provides foreign nationals an opportunity to receive a permanent visa to the US in exchange for a capital investment into one or more newly formed commercial enterprises that lead to the creation or preservation of jobs in the US. “We are excited at the prospect of tapping the Indian market to raise EB-5 capital for our developer clients in the US. The latest I-526 application statistics from the US Citizenship & Immigration Services indicate that 95 per cent of all I-526 filings in FY2016 came from the top 15 EB-5 investor markets, representing more than $6.3 billion in potential capital investment for various economic development projects across the US. With China representing 82.5 per cent of applications, this presents an opportunity for other regions to access the available visa applications without a severe backlog of approval,” said Allison Berman, General Counsel and Head, Greystone EB-5.

He said that the investments that are made under the EB-5 programme are used to support real estate development projects.

Each investment, ranging from $500,000 to $1,000,000, entitles the investor and his/her immediate family (i.e., spouse and unmarried children under 21 years) to participate in the visa application process and the visas are approved/denied as a family unit.

comment COMMENT NOW