N3 Capital Partners Changes Name to Pennybacker Capital, Eyes $250M in Investments

As it prepares to move from Fort Worth to Austin this fall, real estate private equity firm N3 Capital Partners L.L.C. has changed its name to Pennybacker Capital L.L.C. The firm also announced plans to start investing its $250 million inaugural fund. Led by Tim Berry, co-founder of N3 Development Ltd., the firm closed the N3 Opportunity Fund I in December and is now seeking equity investment deals between $1 million and $20 million per transaction. The fund will target investments in undervalued commercial, mixed-use, multi-family and raw land real estate assets, primarily through joint ventures with proven real estate developers. Berry said the fund will also invest in non-performing and performing commercial real estate loans. “We are buying irreplaceable assets at the right value, and we are able to do that because of the dislocation in the market,” Berry said in a news release today. Berry co-founded N3 Development, helping the firm complete over 70 projects worth a total of $300 million in the past four years. He divested his interests in N3 in July 2007, wh en United Investment Co. of the Netherlands acquired N3 to help it accelerate its American real estate investments, as reported in an April 17, 2008, CPN story. That CPN report noted that United Investment Co. and another Dutch firm, SNS Property Finance International, had formed a joint venture for a $1 billion real estate investment and development fund focusing on U.S. retail real estate. Meanwhile, Pennybacker Capital, named for the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin, where the firm will move in October, is also eying retail real estate opportunities. One of the investments through the N3 Opportunity Fund I is a joint venture, ground-up development retail project with The Retail Connection, a Dallas-based real estate services and investment company. The companies are planning Decatur Crossing, a regional power center with about 500,000 square feet in Decatur, Texas, at U.S. Highway 380 and Highway 287. Besides Berry, Pennybacker’s principals are: George P. Bush, a corporate attorney and nephew of President George W. Bush; Vince Reyna, a Certified Financial Analyst, who previously served as vice president & senior underwriter for CIT Corporate Finance; and Michael O’Malley, who was recently both CEO & CFO at Vision Web Inc., where he closed six private equity placements.