In the News

Common Bond Capital Partners Is Formed
to Invest in Distressed Municipal Bond Projects

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(January 23, 2012) Common Bond Capital Partners LLC is being formed to provide capital, financial know-how and real estate development expertise to help resolve mounting defaults in the complex land-secured municipal bond sector.

Common Bond co-founders L. William Huck and Todd J. Anson bring to the venture more than 60 years of combined success in municipal bond finance, real estate law and real estate development. The new company provides a first-of-its-kind platform to build beneficial alliances between bondholders, the communities affected by recession-era defaults, and fresh sources of development capital and expertise.

Proven Track Record of Principals

Common Bond co-founder and veteran public finance banker Bill Huck managed the successful workout of two dozen California bond defaults during his 30-year career at Stone & Youngberg, a San Francisco-based investment bank that has been the leading underwriter of California municipal bond issues since the mid-1980s.

"Our work helping bondholders, city officials and new land developers realize and acknowledge that their goals can be compatible was crucially important in resolving defaults in the 1990s recession," said Huck. "As the country recovers from this recession, our investment platform will differentiate itself from typical private equity by developing workout strategies that build on the common bond shared by existing stakeholders," Huck said. "This is an essential step in re-starting stalled projects, repaying bondholders, as well as creating jobs and building communities."

Appealing Investment Perspective

Co-founder Todd Anson, a long-time big firm real estate attorney and real estate developer, said "Common Bond Capital Partners stands at the intersection of the bond underwriting and real estate development markets with an appealing investment perspective on both. We think this is the perfect time for investing in new solutions. By attracting and providing fresh capital and real estate development expertise necessary to restructure and revitalize stalled projects, Common Bond creates attractive returns for its investors."

In the last decade local governments issued nearly $30 billion in land-secured municipal bonds to finance public infrastructure projects needed to build new communities in many of the nation's fastest growing states. A significant minority—approximately 200 bond issues totaling over $5 billion—have or will default in the next few years because of high delinquency rates in the special taxes or assessments used to pay bond debt service. Land-secured bond defaults are a lagging indicator of the recessionary economy. And while the housing markets are beginning to recover, Huck believes the bond default wave has not yet passed.

Aligning the Interests of Key Parties

"While the conventional private equity approach attempts to buy distressed bonds at deep discounts from desperate owners facing cash or regulatory pressures to sell, Common Bond Capital Partners proposes a strategy that aligns interests of key parties," said Huck. "Most land-secured bonds are owned by sophisticated institutional investors with just as much cash, and many times the municipal bond sector experience, as the private equity opportunists who sometimes low-ball bids on distressed bonds. We believe our collaborative approach will have significantly greater appeal to existing bondholders, although we also intend to be a source of liquidity for them as needed."

L. William Huck, who enjoyed a productive 30-year career in municipal finance at Stone & Youngberg, built a remarkable record during the 1990's real estate recession by successfully pioneering the California bond industry's efforts to develop innovative workout strategies and statutory tools to resolve bond defaults while restoring delinquent properties to the productive tax rolls. During this period he successfully restructured more than two dozen defaulted or troubled bond issues in major metro areas, such as San Diego, Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as numerous mid-sized and smaller communities. In 1997, he founded S&Y Capital Group which made principal investments in distressed bonds and land.

Todd J. Anson is a skilled financial and legal strategist whose career includes 20 years as a Big Law Managing Partner and Global Real Estate Group leader. In 2000, he transitioned to becoming an innovative real estate developer and was among the first to partner with tech companies such as Cisco Systems and Biogen Idec to own large-scale campus facilities. As co-founder of his development company, Cisterra Partners, he earned recognition as NAIOP's Developer of the Year (2003), Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year (2007), and for Cisterra's achievement in developing downtown San Diego's trophy office property, the 15-story DiamondView Tower overlooking Petco Park. The award-winning project was a key piece of the City of San Diego's downtown redevelopment effort and, when sold in 2008, generated the highest price per square foot ever achieved in San Diego.

For additional information on Common Bond Capital Partners investment opportunities and solutions to municipal bond defaults, please visit the company's website at www.commonbondcap.com.