Utah's Promising Money Infusion: From Russia With Love

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Alexander Aginsky of the Aginsky Consulting Group.  He runs an asset management and investment firm specializing in bringing capital from world markets to investment opportunities in the United States.

His business, as you can likely guess from the name, has a particular niche in placing Russian money in opportunities is the U.S.

In our conversation, I discussed Utah's interest in human capital and our desire to bring well-educated and skilled people to our state.  I also discussed our desire to have people invest financially in our community.

What Mr. Aginsky had to share was fascinating in my opinion.  Due to the current brain drain going on in Russia, talented individuals are seeking opportunities abroad.  More interestingly, wealthy Russians are seeking a way to transfer their assets to the safe haven of the U.S. while also obtaining green cards to live here.

As it turns out, our government has a program where wealthy individuals can "buy" their immigration into the U.S. by committing a certain level of funding to invest in American businesses.  With the creation of 10 jobs through the investment, the foreign investor is granted permission to obtain a green card.  This is certainly exciting news for several reasons.

First, given Utah's innovative economy, it may be ripe for such capital investment.  Secondly, the money comes with extremely affordable terms.  The point of the investments are to preserve and protect capital rather than to push it to astronomical returns.  Such a motive provides cheap money for local businesses to grow.  Third, this process opens the doors for desirable immigration as those of means and education come to the U.S. to establish themselves.  This process in essence increases the wealth and prosperity of the community that receives both the financing and the people making the investment.

So what kind of opportunities benefit from this proposal?  The Aginsky Group does underwrite all the potential investments for viability.  However, he did say that real estate developments, medium sized existing businesses, and commercial real estate are excellent places for their client's funds.  Funding infusions can be as low a $1 million and as high as $200 million.   Required returns can be as low as 0.5% (not a typo).

If you are looking to finance the growth of your company, expand a product line, finance a real estate development, or invest in commercial real estate, the Aginsky Consulting Group may be a good place to start.