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About Us
Strategic Focus
We are a financial advisory boutique with a primary focus on placing private debt and equity solutions for US-based commercial real estate (CRE) developers for ground-up, re-purpose and re-development projects. Our core concentration areas include hotel/resort/casino developments in the U.S. and abroad, U.S.-based multi-family developments, and specialty retail. We are focused on raising creative capital solutions, which can include multi-tiered equity and debt capital structures. We coordinate and often work with several providers for each transaction and draw upon traditional and non-traditional capital sources, including private equity, debt shops, banks, private equity, REIT funds, domestic & foreign family offices, ultra-high net worth investors, and U.S. and global hedge investors.
We will also entertain financing requests for special situations outside of the CRE space. These are sector-agnostic opportunities. Examples include securing financing to improve the cap stack for a private company prior to a sale.
Across the the CRE space, Friendship's main focus areas are as follows:
● GP/LP equity and debt financing, including non-dilutive convertible structures
● Arranging capital for acquisitions, developments, recapitalizations and exits
● Joint ventures & investments
● Competitive traditional and non-traditional debt
Typical middle market deal financing asks we entertain are in the $25M-$50M range, with some multi-phase projects in excess of $100M+.
Our Contact Information
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Senior Managing Partner
Friendship Holdings, LLC
mobile: 603 515 6262
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonathanmfriend-cfa
Gabriela La Rage
Friendship Holdings, LLC
mobile: 702 984 8082
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gabrielalarage.
Experience
Our team built their careers on Wall Street. Friendship Holdings began in 2018 as a Angel Round investment group in the medical cannabis space in New England. Requests for financing from other cannabis-based entities commenced, and real estate became a greater source of interest and development .
Our experience includes deal and asset management, financial modeling, and investment structures. The team has expertise in long-only, equity derivative, and alternative investment strategies, including hedge, private equity, and real estate.
Deal experience include bank and debt financing, venture capital A, B, C equity rounds, bank and non-bank financing, and project exits. The team has a broad network of CRE developers, company founders, entrepreneurs, financiers, venture, private equity specialists and investment bankers to draw upon.
The partners of Friendship Holdings, LLC have institutional deal experience in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Methodology
We seek to partner with passionate entrepreneurs and robust commercial interests seeking private debt financing. We invest in rapidly growing businesses and help firms identify their market through bottom-up analysis with the customer. We help developers uncover a well-suited model and brand identity, grow the project, and to help ready them to sell their businesses or attract large round financing.
In the private financing space, we focus on developer-sponsored projects seeking full cap stack solutions and with meaningful sponsor GP equity invested in the project. Our funding groups execute bridge structures, mezzanine debt, convertibles and non-dilutive financing options for commercial investment, acquisition, take-over, or partner buyouts.
We strive for efficiency, accuracy, and professionalism.
The Friendship Team
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Jonathan began his investment career with Prudential Securities in Washington, D.C. He joined Bank of America in 1996 as a portfolio manager and became a founding member of the Bank's Alternative Investment Group in New York in 1998. He lead the advisory sales team effort to grow the platform from $40MM in assets-under-management (AUM)
Jonathan began his investment career with Prudential Securities in Washington, D.C. He joined Bank of America in 1996 as a portfolio manager and became a founding member of the Bank's Alternative Investment Group in New York in 1998. He lead the advisory sales team effort to grow the platform from $40MM in assets-under-management (AUM) in 1998 to a $5B platform, generating $50MM in revenue to the firm bottom line by 2008. Jonathan was responsible for the marketing of alternative investment and equity derivative solutions, and developed strategies for the Private Bank to broaden firm access to institutional markets in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. Jonathan holds an MBA in Finance from the American University in Washington, DC, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He launched Friendship Holdings in 2015.
Christopher F. Swenson
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Chris is a chief financial officer with over twenty years' experience in the venture capital and private equity space, including deals in the U.K. and Japan with Fidelity Venture Capital. He has a deep background in investment banking and financial analysis of the telecommunication industry. Chris has strong deal experience with equity,
Chris is a chief financial officer with over twenty years' experience in the venture capital and private equity space, including deals in the U.K. and Japan with Fidelity Venture Capital. He has a deep background in investment banking and financial analysis of the telecommunication industry. Chris has strong deal experience with equity, venture capital A, B, and C equity rounds, bank financing, and through IPO. He is skilled in risk management, cost and revenue analysis, accounting system development, corporate insurance, and payroll/employee benefits. Chris co-lead efforts to establish a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) working with Fidelity Ventures and executed a $100MM investment in Tokyo. Chris holds an MBA from Babson College. He joined Friendship Ventures as an advisor in 2016.
Thomas L. Currier
Jonathan M. Friend, CFA
Thomas L. Currier
Tom has an extensive background in both the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry and currently serves as Friendship Holdings Managing Director of Commercial Business. With over 30 years' of multi-award winning sales experience, Tom has been responsible throughout his career for gaining unrestricted access/preferred access to proprietary b
Tom has an extensive background in both the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry and currently serves as Friendship Holdings Managing Director of Commercial Business. With over 30 years' of multi-award winning sales experience, Tom has been responsible throughout his career for gaining unrestricted access/preferred access to proprietary biopharma products, maximization of contract profitability as a result of spearheading effective pull through strategies with sales leadership and their respective sales teams, Tom is a top-performer experienced in business scaling, branding, and growth strategies. He is a solutions-driven professional with a customer-driven mindset that accounts for his success. Tom holds a B.S. in Business Administration/Marketing from Plymouth State University. He joined Friendship Ventures in August 2018 as an advisor.