Focus Property Seeks Debt Restructure, Equity

LAS VEGAS-Focus Property Group, whose portfolio includes 30,000 residential lots, said Monday it is in discussions with its lenders to restructure its current debt obligations and is also seeking to acquire new capital to support its ongoing endeavors. To help make it happen, the company has retained the Blackstone Group, the financial advisory services firm with $98.2 billion of assets under management. Focus Property Group chairman John Ritter says his company “remains financially viable” and will continue its operations while Blackstone seeks to strengthen its liquidity.

“The real estate market and lending conditions continue to deteriorate causing land sales to slow significantly,” he says. “Liquidity in all aspects of the real estate industry is extremely limited and within recent weeks the worldwide credit crisis has begun to negatively affect our potential multi-family land buyers. Like many others, we are working to restructure our debt and have begun those discussions with our lenders.”

Focus Property Group is a vertically integrated real estate investment company and developer of master planned communities based in Las Vegas. The company’s current projects total more than 14,500 acres in Las Vegas and throughout the Southwest, and the company’s portfolio includes approximately 30,000 residential lots along with commercial and mixed use property. Ritter was not immediately available Monday afternoon to provide additional detail on the company’s debt load or its assets.