Marc Perusse and Kristin Bertram (Courtesy E2m Ventures)
A former executive at Revesco Properties has launched his own firm, and closed in August on his first deal.
Marc Perusse, 38, is now president and CEO of E2M Ventures, a debt/equity investor interested in deals both local and across much of the country. “M” refers to his first name, while “E” refers to Perusse’s wife Erin and son Ethan.
Perusse worked at Denver-based Revesco from 2014 until this spring, ending as chief investment officer. He worked on the firm’s acquisition, in partnership with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, of the Elitch Gardens amusement park, whose 60 acres are to become a neighborhood dubbed The River Mile.
“I’ve always had the entrepreneurial bug,” Perusse said of the decision.
He also made the move in part because of the rise in interest rates, which has challenged the real estate industry.
“I definitely thought there was going to be a shift and a change,” Perusse said. “I thought, if this is the changing point, I need to go and capitalize on it.”
Perusse said that, when he left Revesco, he didn’t know exactly what form his own firm would take.
“I thought at the time I wanted to be more involved with the real estate,” he said.
Perusse said while leaving he talked with a contact at New York-based Crayhill Capital Management, whom he’d met while at Revesco. He mentioned there seemed to be an opportunity in providing gap, or “rescue,” financing, and the Crayhill executive said the company might be willing to provide cash. But Perusse said he was planning to pass on the offer until, while grabbing lunch in Cherry Creek, a friend suggested he talk to Kristin Bertram, whom he didn’t know.
Bertram, who had recently left a job in originations at ArrowMark Partners, also believed there was opportunity in the niche. The pair agreed to go into business together.
“It was obviously a little scary, because we don’t make any money,” said Bertram, 39. “But you look around and no one is making any money.”
The pair share ownership of E2M. They have two employees.
Crayhill announced this week that it has provided E2M with $50 million. Perusse believes more and more real estate deals going forward will “require some short-term debt to solve the issue at the asset level,” and that cash will increasingly come from third parties.
“The days of cash-out refinancing are over,” he said.
E2M has 24 months to spend the capital, but Perusse hopes to do it in a year. He’s open to deals anywhere within the U.S. outside the northeast, provided there’s a direct flight from Denver. And some deals may not require a flight at all.
“If we could put out a quarter of it in Colorado, I think that’s a pretty good allocation,” he said.
In August, E2M made a $4 million preferred equity investment to the owner of a medical office building in Santa Barbara, California. UCLA Health has agreed to lease the building, but construction delays meant the building wasn’t fully ready for the health care system when the owner’s previous $13.5 million loan came due.
“Their debt matured, and with the new paradigm of finance, even with the value they created, they could only get $10.8 million of debt,” Perusse said.
E2M’s money allowed the owner to fully pay off the original lender and continue with the project. The funding, however, came not from Crayhill but from Revesco.
“The deal came together faster than my capital in New York came together … I was going to just walk away from the transaction, and I had lunch with (Revesco CEO) Rhys (Duggan) and he said, I would do that deal,” Perusse said.
E2M recently added Eric Tupler, a local JLL executive, and Alpine Bank Regional President Matt Teeters as advisory board members.
“I think his niche of providing smaller balance mezz/preferred capital for commercial real estate is a great opportunity for E2M Ventures and will help a lot of owners weather the current capital markets headwinds created by the higher cost of borrowing,” Tupler said in an email, emphasizing the role doesn’t affect his own financing placement business.
E2M isn’t Perusse’s only new venture. He has also started a separate firm called My Block Investments, aiming to provide funds to help a business grow or restructure, specifically businesses that occupy a lot of real estate.
“A lot of times they’re really good at what they do. But a lot of time they make really bad real estate decisions,” Perusse said.
The company, which won’t use Crayhill money, is intended to be “very, very local — Denver to Fort Collins kind of stuff.” The firm has a deal in the works with a local fitness studio chain.
Marc Perusse and Kristin Bertram (Courtesy E2m Ventures)
A former executive at Revesco Properties has launched his own firm, and closed in August on his first deal.
Marc Perusse, 38, is now president and CEO of E2M Ventures, a debt/equity investor interested in deals both local and across much of the country. “M” refers to his first name, while “E” refers to Perusse’s wife Erin and son Ethan.
Perusse worked at Denver-based Revesco from 2014 until this spring, ending as chief investment officer. He worked on the firm’s acquisition, in partnership with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, of the Elitch Gardens amusement park, whose 60 acres are to become a neighborhood dubbed The River Mile.
“I’ve always had the entrepreneurial bug,” Perusse said of the decision.
He also made the move in part because of the rise in interest rates, which has challenged the real estate industry.
“I definitely thought there was going to be a shift and a change,” Perusse said. “I thought, if this is the changing point, I need to go and capitalize on it.”
Perusse said that, when he left Revesco, he didn’t know exactly what form his own firm would take.
“I thought at the time I wanted to be more involved with the real estate,” he said.
Perusse said while leaving he talked with a contact at New York-based Crayhill Capital Management, whom he’d met while at Revesco. He mentioned there seemed to be an opportunity in providing gap, or “rescue,” financing, and the Crayhill executive said the company might be willing to provide cash. But Perusse said he was planning to pass on the offer until, while grabbing lunch in Cherry Creek, a friend suggested he talk to Kristin Bertram, whom he didn’t know.
Bertram, who had recently left a job in originations at ArrowMark Partners, also believed there was opportunity in the niche. The pair agreed to go into business together.
“It was obviously a little scary, because we don’t make any money,” said Bertram, 39. “But you look around and no one is making any money.”
The pair share ownership of E2M. They have two employees.
Crayhill announced this week that it has provided E2M with $50 million. Perusse believes more and more real estate deals going forward will “require some short-term debt to solve the issue at the asset level,” and that cash will increasingly come from third parties.
“The days of cash-out refinancing are over,” he said.
E2M has 24 months to spend the capital, but Perusse hopes to do it in a year. He’s open to deals anywhere within the U.S. outside the northeast, provided there’s a direct flight from Denver. And some deals may not require a flight at all.
“If we could put out a quarter of it in Colorado, I think that’s a pretty good allocation,” he said.
In August, E2M made a $4 million preferred equity investment to the owner of a medical office building in Santa Barbara, California. UCLA Health has agreed to lease the building, but construction delays meant the building wasn’t fully ready for the health care system when the owner’s previous $13.5 million loan came due.
“Their debt matured, and with the new paradigm of finance, even with the value they created, they could only get $10.8 million of debt,” Perusse said.
E2M’s money allowed the owner to fully pay off the original lender and continue with the project. The funding, however, came not from Crayhill but from Revesco.
“The deal came together faster than my capital in New York came together … I was going to just walk away from the transaction, and I had lunch with (Revesco CEO) Rhys (Duggan) and he said, I would do that deal,” Perusse said.
E2M recently added Eric Tupler, a local JLL executive, and Alpine Bank Regional President Matt Teeters as advisory board members.
“I think his niche of providing smaller balance mezz/preferred capital for commercial real estate is a great opportunity for E2M Ventures and will help a lot of owners weather the current capital markets headwinds created by the higher cost of borrowing,” Tupler said in an email, emphasizing the role doesn’t affect his own financing placement business.
E2M isn’t Perusse’s only new venture. He has also started a separate firm called My Block Investments, aiming to provide funds to help a business grow or restructure, specifically businesses that occupy a lot of real estate.
“A lot of times they’re really good at what they do. But a lot of time they make really bad real estate decisions,” Perusse said.
The company, which won’t use Crayhill money, is intended to be “very, very local — Denver to Fort Collins kind of stuff.” The firm has a deal in the works with a local fitness studio chain.
