OAKLAND, Calif. MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan 11, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Waypoint Real Estate Group, the nation’s leading acquirer of distressed,
single-family properties, and GI Partners, a leading mid-market private
equity firm, announced today that GI has made a significant equity
investment in Waypoint to fund its expansion. The GI investment will
initially enable the acquisition of more than $250 million in single
family rental homes, and is anticipated to ultimately support the
acquisition of more than $1 billion in single-family rental homes over
the next two years.

Since its founding in 2008, Waypoint has successfully acquired nearly
1,000 homes in the San Francisco Bay Area and Inland Empire in Southern
California, and developed a sophisticated proprietary system to
underwrite and manage the portfolio of homes. With the GI investment,
Waypoint plans to launch a national expansion, with the goal of entering
into multiple new geographic markets in 2012.

“Our approach to buying and renovating distressed homes and leasing to
residents who are committed to a path to future home ownership is a
viable solution to our nation’s housing crisis,” said Colin Wiel,
managing director and co-founder of Waypoint. “Our unique approach to
acquiring homes and converting them into rental properties speaks
directly to the Federal Reserve’s recommendations included within its
recent white paper. This partnership with GI Partners ensures we can
take the next step in our company’s evolution.”

GI Partners will invest in Waypoint through GI Partners Fund III L.P.,
which has approximately $1.9 billion of capital commitments from
institutional private equity and real estate investors.

“Waypoint has not only developed an effective strategy for investing in
distressed single family homes, but has built a business that has
positive social and economic benefits in the communities in which they
invest,” said Rick Magnuson, executive managing director of GI Partners,
who has joined Waypoint’s Board of Directors in conjunction with the
investment. “We believe Waypoint has the potential to thrive given the
current market dislocation in single family housing and the sustained
tenant demand for rental property.”

Waypoint employs proprietary technology to identify residential real
estate markets characterized by strong rental demand and an identifiable
pipeline of discounted home purchase opportunities.

The company, after acquiring distressed single-family houses, renovates
each property so they are as attractive and vibrant as possible,
improving the quality of each local neighborhood. The company’s lease
program, Lease Plus Rewards(TM), helps put families on a path to future
home ownership and keep families connected with their communities.

Doug Brien, Waypoint’s managing director and co-founder, added, “GI has
played a major role in building several impressive businesses over the
past decade, and we are eager to work with GI leadership to build
Waypoint into another success story.”

Gary Beasley, an industry veteran who recently joined Waypoint as
managing director, added, “There are nearly four million homes
nationwide which are now either bank-owned or in a serious state of
delinquency or distress. To address this massive problem we are
beginning conversations with lenders to facilitate our “REO-to-rental”
model which can help avoid the dislocation and negative societal
consequences of foreclosures.”

About Waypoint Real Estate Group

Based in Oakland, Calif., Waypoint Real Estate Group (
www.waypointhomes.com )
has created a next-generation real estate company with an innovative
business model to help address the lack of liquidity contributing to the
prolonged U.S. housing crisis. The Waypoint solution centers on buying
distressed single-family houses, renovating them, and then leasing them
to residents via innovative leasing programs which are designed to
provide a path to future home ownership for the residents. A leader in
the emerging REO-to-rental industry since its founding in 2008, Waypoint
has acquired nearly 1,000 homes in California, and is poised to begin an
aggressive national expansion program in 2012.

About GI Partners

GI Partners, headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., makes investments in
asset-intensive, middle-market businesses and portfolios of assets
located in North America and Western Europe. Key sectors of focus
include commercial real estate, specialty healthcare, IT infrastructure,
leisure and financial services. Across all of its investments, GI
Partners seeks to identify companies with market leading positions and
to establish a partnership orientation with management that drives
operational value creation. GI Partners’ investments have included First
Republic Bank, STAG Industrial, SoftLayer Technologies and Digital
Realty Trust. For more information about GI Partners, please visit
www.gipartners.com .
Reach GI Partners in Menlo Park, Calif. at (650) 233-3600.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:

http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50129884lang=en

SOURCE: Waypoint Real Estate Group

        Allison + Partners
        Marcus Gamo, 415-277-4925
        waypoint@allisonpr.com
        or
        Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC
        Chris Tofalli, 914-834-4334
        chris@tofallipr.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/waypoint-real-estate-group-and-gi-partners-establish-partnership-to-build-single-family-rental-platform-launch-national-expansion-campaign-2012-01-11