Eric Jafari (born April 4, 1977) is the Co-Managing Director at EquityBridge Capital, Ltd and the Chief Executive Officer at BridgePoint Ventures, LLC. In 2005, Mr. Jafari founded BridgePoint Ventures, LLC and “Preconstruction Syndication”, a market neutral real estate investment strategy. Between 2005 and 2008, Mr. Jafari and BridgePoint advised over 450 clients in the purchase of over $US 440,000,000 in new development acquisitions with a focus on the United States market. Despite the real estate sector’s decline, Mr. Jafari and BridgePoint emerged as amongst the few firms globally that maintained a 100% capital preservation record for all 450 clients in every property transaction. In 2007, in anticipation of the credit crisis, Mr. Jafari directed BridgePoint and EquityBridge’s efforts to focus on distressed real estate. After a year of research and failed attempts to acquire assets at an acceptable discount, the firm was able to acquire its first sample portfolio of distressed assets at an 82% discount on April 28, 2008 and a second sample portfolio of assets at an 85% discount on July 29, 2008. EquityBridge focuses its resources on the acquisition, repositioning and arbitrage of distressed assets. Eric is happily married to Lisa Jafari and Mr. Jafari has sat on the corporate advisory boards for Strategic Wealth Alliance, Global Prospects, IPIN and EquityOne in addition a myriad of philanthropic initiatives such as founding the Caleb and Lilly Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Planned Giving Council.

Youth

Eric Jafari was born in Burbank, California, the son to Malak and Ahmad Jafari, the Chief Architect for WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering). Eric Jafari was raised in Canyon Country, California until age 11. At age 11, Ahmad Jafari was requested to serve as the Head Architect for Disneyland Paris. Consequently, the Jafari family relocated to Paris, France where Eric Jafari attended the Ecole Active Bilingue (International). Eric Jafari spent half the year in Paris attending Ecole Active Bilingue and the other half of the year attending Chiswick Middle School, in Chiswick, United Kingdom. At age 12, Eric Jafari was transferred to the Ecole Active Bilingue Parc Monceau where he attended until age 16. At age 16, the Jafari family relocated back to Los Angeles, California where Eric Jafari attended Lycee International De Los Angeles for the subsequent 1½ years. At age 17, Eric Jafari skipped 12th grade and was accepted to the California Polytechnic University of San Luis Obispo where he obtained a major in business administration with a double minor in marketing and international management. University.

During Mr. Jafari’s attendance at Cal Poly SLO, he co-founded Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the Cal Poly Leadership Institute, became the VP of Cal Poly Inter-Fraternity Council and the ASI Director of Public Relations. During his time at Cal Poly, Mr. Jafari worked for the Southwestern Company during his summers where he became of the top sales representatives and managers in the history of the company (since 1868). He was responsible for winning the following awards:

- Doctorate of Sales and Business Management

- Gold Award

- Mort Utley Award

- Spencer Hays Award

- President’s Club

- Student Excellence Award

- Student of the Year Award

Career

After graduation, Mr. Jafari joined Daniel Janjigian at WebCage.Net to become the company’s VP of Sales and Marketing. He worked at WebCage until such time he was recruited by First Meridian, Inc. to serve as a Business Development advisor for the firm in South Florida. Mr. Jafari commenced as a business development advisor and was then promoted to a wealth integration advisor within six months. At First Meridian, Inc., Mr. Jafari advised over thirty of the nation’s most affluent families in the areas of estate planning, income tax, asset protection, business succession, asset management and mergers and acquisitions. During his time with First Meridian, he obtained his Series 7, 66, Health and Life Insurance licenses, in addition to receiving his CM&A (Certified Mergers & Acquisitions), CTEP (Chartered Estate Planner) and CEA (Certified Estate advisor). Mr. Jafari originated the merger between the private equity firm, the InvestLinc Group and First Meridian and shepherded the process until such time the merger has completed. At Investlinc, Mr. Jafari also originated and oversaw the recapitilization of DDU Express.

BridgePoint Ventures

In 2005, in anticipation of the US property market decline, Mr. Jafari founded “Preconstruction Syndication” (also known as “Capital Enhancement” and the “Secured Exit Strategy” (SES)), a proprietary market neutral real estate investment strategy. Mr. Jafari resigned from the InvestLinc Group to start DB Integrated in 2005 that evolved into BridgePoint Ventures. BridgePoint commenced in an executive office space with three employees and five clients. Despite the global economic contraction, BridgePoint grew to over twenty employees and four hundred and fifty clients acquiring over $450,000,000 in real estate. BridgePoint closed over thirty-five real estate development transactions with over 1,500 individual trades. Since inception, BridgePoint continues to maintain a 100% capital preservation record for every client on every property trade. The following is a sample of a few of the projects executed by BridgePoint:

- The Mandarin Oriental Chicago $160,000,000

- The Pinnacle Las Vegas $60,000,000

- Praderas Del Yaque DR $50,000,000

- The Emerald Monkey Panama $60,000,000

- The Angler’s Resort Miami $1,000,000

- The Towne of Sea Haven $10,000,000

EquityBridge Capital

In 2007, Mr. Jafari was approached by EquityOne Investments, a Gibraltar based investment management firm, to partner on the Mandarin Oriental Chicago. After six months of mutual due diligence, EquityOne and BridgePoint joint ventured by creating a mutually owned firm by the name of EquityBridge Capital. Equitybridge Capital was initially formed to take the Preconstruction Syndication model and modify the investment strategy and the application thereof for the purposes of the MENA markets. Shortly thereafter, EquityBridge decided to reallocate its resources and focus from Preconstruction Syndication to distressed assets, due to EquityBridge’s market research indicating an economic decline in the MENA region. EquityBridge now has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, London, United Kingdom, Cape Town, Africa, Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands and a satellite office in the United Arab Emirates.

Speaking Engagements, Publications & Podcasts

Although Mr. Jafari has spoken in various events, written a number of different articles and conducted numerous podcasts, the following is a sample of his work. Mr. Jafari was invited to speak about the future credit crisis and global economic decline and methods with which to hedge against such conditions in China’s Ministry of Construction International Exhibition on Housing in October 2006 and Canada’s Pro-Seminars National Advisor Conference in June 2007. Mr. Jafari wrote his first article on March 5, 2008 “The Facts Vs Sam Zell and George W”. The article was written by Mr. Jafari as a response to Sam Zell and George Bush’s statements that the US economy was in a healthy condition and that the market was poised to rebound by end of Spring 2008. On January 30, 2009, Eric Jafari and his sister Sheba Jafari, Senior Editor and Analyst for EquityBridge Capital, authored “The Credit Crisis Explained” – a brief exploration of the causes associated with the Credit Crisis. Eric Jafari conducted the podcasts “Economic Review of 2008” on February 18 2009, “The Scope and The Projected Effects of Obama Stimulus Plan” on February 19, 2009 and ‘How To Avoid Being The Victim of the Next Ponzi Scheme” on March 5, 2009. Eric Jafari is also the Senior Editor for the IPIN Real Estate Investor Channel.