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December 2, 2011
Another look at the huge benefits from the EB-5 program: perhaps $140 million to Forest City Ratner, and $50 million to NYCRC
Atlantic Yards Report
"EB-5 Friday" continues at Atlantic Yards Report.
So, how much is Forest City Ratner saving on its $249 million low-interest loan from immigrant investors under the EB-5 program? And what are the earnings of is the New York City Regional Center (NYCRC), the private investment pool that was marketing the project--green cards in exchange for $500,000 in purportedly job-creating investments?
I have to revise some of my reporting from last year, when I calculated a gain of some $191 million to Forest City, based on the difference between the interest rate the developer might have to pay on the open market and the no-interest being offered to Chinese investors.
I also have to revise my calculations regarding benefits to the NYCRC, which I calculated would earn $38,000 per client in fees, or nearly $19 million.
Earning money on the interest
Rather, the NYCRC may be keeping very little of those fees, since it has to share fees with affiliates. It earns its money on the spread between the interest rate on loan offered to Forest City and the return received by the 498 investors.
Forest City likely will pay 4% to 5%, as with other NYCRC projects promoted by the city, while the majority of the investors, from China, will get no interest, and the 40 or so Korean investors will get .25%.
So it's a win for Forest City and the NYCRC: they both make money. I think Forest City's benefit is still more than $100 million, while NYCRC may earn some $50 million (see bottom).
It's a win for the immigrants: they get green cards for themselves and their family, with the cost being the foregone interest on the investment they get back. (Of course there is a risk, and not every EB-5 investor gets a green card.)
What about the public benefit? The investments are supposed to create jobs, but in some case--as I've shown with the Atlantic Yards investment--they don't create new jobs, and the immigrant investors get credit--apparently legal, though logically questionable--for the jobs created by the entire $1.448 billion in the "Brooklyn Arena and Infrastructure Project."
Posted by eric at December 2, 2011 10:05 AM