Cross-border debt placement: structuring for Brazilian and LatAm capital
The capital is available. The structures that actually get funded look different from a purely domestic deal.
What's different about underwriting cross-border capital
Brazilian and broader LatAm capital sources — family offices, private banks, and increasingly institutional allocators — evaluate US real estate debt and equity opportunities with a different set of priors than a typical domestic lender or LP: longer relationship-driven decision cycles, a strong preference for sponsors and structures they can diligence through people they already trust, and heightened attention to currency, repatriation, and tax mechanics on both entry and exit.
Structuring considerations that actually matter
Entity structure is usually the first real decision point — most cross-border capital comes in through a blocker structure, frequently a US corporation or REIT, to manage FIRPTA exposure and simplify the investor's US tax filing obligations, rather than investing directly. Getting this structure wrong, or structuring it late after terms are already agreed, is one of the more common and avoidable ways a cross-border deal loses time or falls apart before closing.
The relationship layer isn't a formality
Institutional-style due diligence checklists matter less to this capital base than a credible, verifiable relationship and track record — but "relationship-driven" doesn't mean less rigorous, it means the diligence happens through a different channel (references, prior deal performance, direct partner-level conversations) rather than a standardized process. Sponsors underestimating the time this takes, or trying to shortcut it with a purely transactional pitch, are the most common reason a promising conversation with cross-border capital stalls.
Where we help
We advise on both sides of this: structuring debt raises for US sponsors targeting Brazilian and LatAm capital sources, and advising those capital sources on underwriting US sponsors and deals. That dual vantage point — knowing what each side actually needs to see to move forward — is where a lot of the value sits.