An asset manager with a specialist's edge.
First and foremost, Cohort Equity is an asset manager. We run commercial real estate to institutional standards: monthly reporting, sharper lease and NOI calls, lender relations, and a close watch on covenants and capital spending. It's the everyday discipline that keeps what our clients own safe and growing.
What sets us apart is where we look for value. We take on the messy, distressed situations most managers avoid and most lenders want gone: stalled developments, defaulted loans, assets carrying too much debt that would be worth far more finished than they are right now.
Working those situations out is how we protect capital. It's also how we create the chance to invest alongside us, in deals backed by real property and priced so the numbers hold even when the market doesn't.
Managing what you own, and finding what's worth owning.
Most of our edge comes from doing both jobs well: the deal-making that sets the price we get in at, and the asset management that protects it and grows it from there.
Asset Management
We run commercial assets the way an institution would. You get monthly reporting your lenders and partners will respect, smarter lease and NOI decisions, a handle on covenants and capital spending, and honest advice on when to hold and when to sell. All without paying for a full-time team.
Distressed & Special Situations
This is where we go looking for value. We find bank-owned and off-market situations, buy the debt for less than it's owed, put the right capital structure in place, and see the project through to a sale. It's serious distressed-credit work, done at the pace a deal actually moves.
Investment Opportunities
The deals we work on become chances to invest alongside us. Each one is backed by real property and priced on the downside first. We build every layer of capital to match its own level of risk, and we put the coverage and the related-party terms on the table before you commit. Built for qualified investors, and for diaspora money looking for a way home.
The same disciplined lifecycle,
every transaction.
Find the situation before it is a listing
We work our relationships with lenders, receivers, and owners to find assets trading below what they're really worth. Usually ones that would be worth far more once they're finished or restructured.
Treat the purchase as a credit negotiation
We give the seller a clean, final exit, keep the existing security and its priority, and lock in exclusivity. The discount we negotiate to face value becomes our margin of safety.
Price the downside, then the deal
We build one live model that runs a base case, a softer case, and a real stress case. We keep debt to a conservative ceiling, size the equity to fit, and pay every layer of capital for the risk it actually takes.
Paperwork that ties out
Letters of intent, term sheets written for each class of investor, subscription and shareholders' agreements. Every figure ties back to the same model, and every document is honest about its own economics.
Assemble and run the team
We bring in the people who deliver: a quantity surveyor, a valuer, transaction and security lawyers, engineers, sales agents, project managers, and a dedicated risk lead. We run the whole transaction the way a general contractor runs a build.
Structured by us, placed by our partners
We design each class of capital and the terms that go with it. The capital itself is raised by our investment banking partners, who are licensed to place it. Income investors get a capped, well-covered position, and investors who want upside take the equity that carries the swing.
Finish it, watch it, return the capital
We run the build and the sales program, report every month, and return capital on schedule. When holding or refinancing beats a forced sale, we do that instead.
A distressed acquisition, restructured and underway.
A 40-unit residential development in a good part of town had stalled. Four loans had gone into default, about J$1.2 billion in all, owed to a mortgage lender and backed by personal and estate guarantees. More than a year of attempts to work it out had gone nowhere. Finished, the property was independently valued at close to twice what it was worth as it stood.
We found it directly, not through a broker. Instead of buying the building, we bought the debt secured against it, which gave the lender a clean cash exit at about a 17% discount and put us in its place at the same priority. The guarantees stayed with the original borrowers, not our investors. Then came the harder part: a three-tier capital structure to pay for both the purchase and the work left to finish, priced on the downside first.
Illustrative capability profile. Anonymized. Counterparties, the project, and the exact site are withheld while the transaction is live. Not an offer of securities. Figures are rounded and shown to illustrate how we work. Past and ongoing work is not a guide to future results.
Download the capability profileWho we're here for.
Owners & Lenders
Maybe a project has stalled, or it's carrying more debt than it can handle. Maybe you're a lender holding a loan you'd rather be rid of. We take the problem off your hands: we clear the debt, pay for the work that's left, and get the asset finished and sold. You get a clean exit on a set timeline, you keep the value a foreclosure would have wiped out, and in many cases you get your personal guarantees back.
Investors
Institutional and private investors who want returns backed by real assets, built to hold up when the market turns, in debt or in equity. We structure the deal and our investment banking partners raise the capital, so the placement is handled by people licensed to do it. You see the coverage, the related-party terms, and how we're priced against the market before you decide. By enquiry only, and nothing here is an offer of securities.
The Diaspora
Jamaicans and Caribbean people living abroad who want a trustworthy way to invest back home, without the conflicted brokers and the guesswork. We're from the same community, and we manage the assets on the ground to the same standard a big institution would. Your money goes to work in Jamaica while you stay where you are.
Led by a principal,
backed by a real team.
"For more than twenty years I've made real decisions with real money in real assets. I've never advised from the sidelines. I've done the work. That's what I bring to every deal and every investor."
Cohort Equity is led by David A. Lee, who has spent more than 22 years in real estate, private equity, and executive roles across Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the United States.
He holds a Master of Science in Real Estate from NYU's Schack Institute and a BBA from Baruch College. He has been a CEO and a chief commercial officer in financial services, and has sat on the boards of the Jamaica Mortgage Bank and ISP Finance Services, a company listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. These are places where real money and real accountability are on the line.
Every deal runs with a named team behind it: quantity surveyors, valuers, lawyers, engineers, sales agents, project managers, and a dedicated risk lead. What clients and investors get is someone who has managed the assets, structured the capital, and run the businesses himself, and who holds every job to the same standard.
See how we underwrite a deal
An anonymized look at a live engagement: how we found it, what we paid, how we structured it, and how well the capital is covered. It shows our track record and how we work. It is not an offer to invest.
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By enquiry only. Nothing on this site is an offer of securities. Your details are used only to deliver this profile and respond to your enquiry. We do not sell or share your data.
What people ask before the first call
What does Cohort Equity Real Estate Partners do?
Cohort Equity is a commercial real estate asset manager that specializes in distressed and special situations. We manage commercial property to institutional standards, and we acquire and restructure stalled, defaulted, and over-leveraged assets. That distressed work is what creates asset-backed investment opportunities for the institutional, private, and diaspora investors who work with us. We operate in Jamaica and the United States.
What are distressed and special situations in commercial real estate?
They are properties or loans in trouble: a stalled development, a defaulted mortgage, a non-performing loan a lender wants off its books, or an asset carrying more debt than it can support. These situations are often worth far more once they are resolved and finished. We buy in at a discount, fix the capital structure, complete the work, and sell or refinance.
Does Cohort Equity work in Jamaica, the United States, or both?
Both. Cohort Equity is based in Jamaica and works across Jamaica and the United States. We are built to serve the Caribbean diaspora in particular: people living in the U.S. who want a trusted, institutional way to invest in Jamaican real estate.
Can the Jamaican and Caribbean diaspora invest through Cohort Equity?
Yes. Serving the diaspora is central to what we do. We manage the assets on the ground in Jamaica to an institutional standard, so diaspora investors can put capital to work back home without conflicted brokers or guesswork. Opportunities are offered by enquiry to qualified investors, and the capital is raised through our licensed investment banking partners.
How can the Jamaican diaspora invest in real estate in Jamaica?
Through Cohort Equity, Jamaicans living in the United States and elsewhere can invest in Jamaican commercial real estate without managing it themselves. We source and structure the deals, manage the property on the ground to an institutional standard, and report every month. Investments are backed by real property and offered by enquiry to qualified investors, and the capital is raised through our licensed investment banking partners. It is a way to invest back home with institutional discipline instead of conflicted brokers or guesswork.
How does Cohort Equity protect investors' capital?
We underwrite the downside first. Every deal is priced on its stress case, debt is held to a conservative loan-to-cost ceiling, and the discount we capture on the way in sits ahead of investor capital as the first layer to absorb any loss. We disclose coverage ratios and related-party terms up front rather than burying them.
Is Cohort Equity a registered investment adviser, and how is capital raised?
Cohort Equity structures and manages the deals. It is not a registered investment adviser and does not publicly solicit investment. When a deal is ready, the capital is raised and placed by our licensed investment banking partners. Nothing on this site is an offer of securities.
Have a situation?
Or capital to put to work?
There are two ways to start. If you own or hold the asset, tell us about it and your timeline. If you're an investor, tell us how you'd like to take part. Anything you share with us stays confidential.