Who is Sunage Equity Capital?
At Sunage Equity Capital, we believe owning commercial real estate is one of the best wealth creation tools. To help investors generate wealth, we provide a source of passive income for hard-working professionals who want to add commercial property to their portfolios. Our focus is private placement investments in multifamily communities with 100 units or more.
We choose deals with a collaborative and holistic approach and critically assess all assumptions and projections to ensure forecasts make sense and are likely to achieve the projected outcomes. To meet our criteria, a property must pass stringent measures, align with demand in the target market, and have above-average upside potential. Standards include assets in rapidly growing regions with solid employment, underperforming assets, and the presence of value-add projects that force appreciation. Rehabilitating properties with sustainability in mind allows us to take advantage of tax credits, creating a win-win for both the environment and investors. We manage risks by tracking our preferred areas' regional demographic and economic trends.
"Sunage Equity Capital provides investment opportunities in apartment communities, delivering above-average returns using fundamental acquisition and management strategies."
Using this disciplined approach to value-based investing, we can deliver above-average returns in lower-risk asset classes through tax-favored real estate investments. Our properties provide strong cash flow, protect investor wealth by owning physical properties, and improve residents' life and living conditions.
Sunage Equity Capital restricts acquisitions to three per year, allowing us to give each deal and investor the time and attention needed for success. This approach enables us to select the best deals in our preferred regions. As the founder, Francis Aniekwensi reviews and personally invests in every project.
Once we choose a project, the business plan lays out the acquisition and hold strategy with an exit plan between two and seven years. Investors become passive limited partners in the LLC, and Sunage Equity Capital, along with any co-sponsors, became the active managing team dealing with all aspects of acquisition and ownership.
Investor Relations
We believe in creating a true partnership with investors by building relationships through open lines of communication at every stage, from vetting a property to ownership. It is our responsibility to make the project successful. Even though investors are silent partners, we do not expect them to be silent when it comes to their investments. If they have questions or concerns about the project, Francis makes himself available through one-on-one consultations with each investor for every deal and gets to know each partner personally. Regular Zoom conference calls keep investors abreast of rehabilitation projects, the timing of distributions, and other vital details about asset ownership. Keeping open lines of communication builds trust, sets realistic expectations, and treats investors like family.
Our Partnership With Think Multifamily
As part of our team, we work exclusively with Think Multifamily to source market deals, conservatively underwrite assets, perform due diligence, negotiate terms, secure the debt, raise capital, and manage the property after acquisition. Our working partnership increases efficiency and improves the net operating income (NOI), increasing returns for investors.
This affiliation helps us connect investors to real estate opportunities that meet their investment goals, risk tolerance, and expected returns. Our Think Multifamily partnership includes a team of real estate attorneys, mortgage brokers, property managers, and asset management teams who oversee each project from acquisition, due diligence, inspection, contract negotiation, and closing.
Francis Aniekwensi
General Partner and Founder
Francis is the general partner and founder of Sunage Equity Capital, specializing in sourcing and raising capital. Like many investors, he began his real estate career acquiring and managing single-family homes. The challenge with this strategy is that lenders only allow four single-family mortgages, making it difficult to scale. It became necessary to adjust his strategy, so he purchased an office building refocusing his business on a new and better course.
The journey began with his immigration to the US from South Africa in 2002, with a medical residency at New York Medical College. Not only did he complete his residency and become a medical doctor, but he was introduced to the wealth-creation tool of real estate.
He purchased his first single-family residence in 2008 and, by 2013, knew in order to expand his portfolio, he needed to move into commercial real estate investing. His first commercial property was an office building in Warrenton, NC.
As a property owner with experience in residential and commercial real estate, colleagues began asking questions about how he created income streams from his investments. While many of his coworkers were interested in real estate, most had very little expertise in financial matters, making him the go-to source of information
While his current portfolio was profitable, the more expertise he gained in the commercial real estate space, the more attractive syndications became. Not only could he scale his business in ways he could never achieve through single-held properties, but he could also help his colleagues.
It occurred to him that if he developed his skill set in real estate syndications, he could help fellow physicians passively invest in his ventures. To support this goal, Francis joined the Think Multifamily community in 2019. Through his experience, the Think Multifamily training programs, and access to their resources, he could now help other medical professionals build wealth.
Think Multifamily increased his expertise through a professional team rather than trial and error. He gained access to the resources required to uncover, vet, underwrite, and manage multifamily properties. The experienced team filled in the knowledge gaps, giving him the tools necessary to expand his business and open the door to help his friends and colleagues build their portfolios using commercial real estate syndications.
By 2020 Francis closed four commercial properties in Tennessee, Kansas, Arkansas, and North Carolina. In 2021, the company purchased a second multifamily complex in Kansas and North Carolina, and three apartment complexes in Florida, in 2022. Distribution payments began in as little as six months from the purchase date, based on the rehab projects necessary to bring the units up to market rates. Sunage Equity Capital has currently met the preferred returns on each of the investments.
Today Francis lives in Henderson, NC, with his wife and four children.
Our Team
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Mark KenneyStrategic Advisor -
Brent KawakamiConsultant