A.BRIDGE REALVEST SECURITIES CORPORATION (“Realvest”) has since 1996 been a registered broker-dealer and municipal financial adviser specializing in the structuring and sale of tax-exempt and taxable bonds for development and redevelopment projects. Our clients are non-profit organizations, government agencies and project developers. We are a member of FINRA and SIPC and are registered with the MSRB.
Our affiliate, RealVest Capital Corporation (“Realvest Capital”) is a project finance consulting firm serving project developers and corporations seeking private financing not requiring the sale of bonds or other securities.
In the public sector we serve in both an advisory capacity and as bond placement agent. In large issues, major government agencies often prefer broad retail bond distribution and select underwriting teams from among a few national and regional underwriters. In such cases, RealVest Securities may be retained as financial adviser for its expertise in structuring or obtaining credit enhancement for the issue. In other cases, our direct access to key institutional investors and selected retail firms enables us to offer favorable rates. Typically, our transactions involve careful, creative structuring and/or credit enhancement, to achieve high investment-grade ratings. These bond issues frequently require intensive analysis and focused marketing not generally offered by the sales and trading desks of major underwriting firms, and are better suited to our direct placement approach.
Some of Realvest's programs involve proprietary structures that combine features drawn from the separate worlds of real estate, corporate and public finance. For example, in order to assist a state governmental agency to attract and retain major companies and their employees, Realvest designed an off-balance-sheet long-term credit lease structure financeable in the credit markets at rates far below normal real estate development financing. This structure minimizes the real estate and residual risks through residual value guarantees, a feature drawn from the corporate and synthetic lease markets. The resulting bond issue could then be credit-enhanced, rated and sold to institutional investors.
Realvest's principals, Gil Sandler and Gregg Nelson, have each worked for major Wall Street firms and have extensive training in both public finance and capital markets. Together they have successfully served as underwriters or financial advisors on well over a billion dollars of bond issues in a broad spectrum of specialty areas, including infrastructure, redevelopment, healthcare, higher education, housing, structured finance, securitization and general obligation financing. Our expertise in structured finance enables us to analyze and decode the many complex financing transactions undertaken in the pre-Enron era, and to distinguish between deceptive and legitimate structures. This specialized knowledge is suitable for consulting assignments for corporate boards, audit committees and counsel.
Realvest and its principals have pioneered several innovative financing programs resulting in substantial cost savings for clients. In many cases, such as the nearly $250 MM of Economic Growth Bond pools issued by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority from 1991-1994 which financed nearly 65 capital projects for private industry and non-profit firms, our bond and credit enhancement structures were crucial elements in enabling important projects to be effectively financed and completed. In 1996, the firm established a broker-dealer – “Realvest Securities Corporation”, later renamed “A.Bridge-Realvest Securities Corp” – through which all of the firm’s capital markets, remarketing, underwriting/placement and municipal financial advisory functions are handled.
Realvest's experienced professionals have proven expertise in such diverse disciplines as investment banking, corporate finance, securities sales and trading, real estate and equipment leasing, law, accounting, insurance and marketing. These complementary skills, combined with market awareness, enable Realvest to devise customized, creative financing solutions to meet difficult financial challenges.