Critical Conversations: How to tap into international funding

Nearly 65 people attended a Business Journal Critical Conversations roundtable centering on international investments Friday in Miami.

Critical Conversations is our series examining key issues in business. Managing Editor Mel Meléndez moderated the discussion, which took place at the Related Group's SLS Lux Brickell sales office.

The discussion largely centered on how businesses can best prepare to seek international backers, identifying and vetting investors, and obtaining EB-5 money and other forms of international funding.

Several misconceptions about EB-5 investments were shattered at the event, especially how much money can be requested.

For example, four years ago it might have been possible to fully fund a project solely with EB-5 investments, as Rodrigo Azpurua, president and CEO of Riviera Point Development Group accomplished in 2010. Today however, the maximum in EB-5 funding hovers at about 30 percent for most projects, said Mikki Canton, managing director of the City of Miami's EB-5 Regional Center. Applications seeking more funds won't pass muster, she added.

"EB-5 has become an industry, just like banking is an industry," Canton said. "Projects are never funded 100 percent, 80 percent … It's not going to happen because investors want to have developers put skin in the game."

The EB-5 program is a way for foreign investors to gain U.S. residency by investing up to $500,000 in projects that create at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers for two years. The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services runs distinct EB-5 regional centers, like the one Canton manages. As of Dec. 1, the agency had approved approximately 601 regional centers.

Nina Lincoff covers banking, finance, and insurance. Get the latest banking news with our free daily newsletter. Click here to subscribe.