TIGER 21 FORMS FIRST ATLANTA GROUP

TIGER 21 forms first Atlanta group

FEBUARY 26, 2014 | BY PHIL W. HUDSON

What has been called “the wealthiest and most powerful social networking group in the world” is coming to the Peach State.

New York-based TIGER 21, a peer-to-peer learning network for high-net-worth investors, announced Feb. 25 it formed a group in Atlanta — its 16th city in North America.

TIGER 21’s network of nearly 240 members manage more than $22 billion in total assets.

The company said its Atlanta group will be led by the Executive Director of the Emory Center for Alternative Investments Klaas Baks, who will serve as chair, and the CEO of Beach Ball Capital LLC Steve Freedman, the group’s founding member.

Baks is also an associate professor of finance at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, where he focuses on venture capital, private equity, entrepreneurial finance and investment management.

“Atlanta is the economic center of this metropolitan area and an important hub of business and finance activity in the region,” said Baks, in a statement. “Not only does Atlanta have the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters, but it also is an attractive locale for entrepreneurs and start-ups because of its highly educated workforce.”Freedman founded Getmembers.com, a direct marketing agency, in 1994 and sold an interest of it to the private equity firm Lake Capital in 2007. Between 2007 and 2012, Freedman and his team helped the parent company (Hyper Marketing Inc.) grow into the largest independent marketing services firm in the United States. The firm was sold to Epsilon, a division of Alliance Data, in 2012 for $450 million, the company said.

Freedman’s current company, Ball Capital, focuses on short- and long-term alternative investments in commercial and residential real estate, select service hotels, distressed and senior secured debt, private equity, venture and select operating companies.

Tiger 21 has groups in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Palm Beach Fla., San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tysons Corner, Va., and Washington, D.C. The company also has Canadian groups in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

PHIL W. HUDSON IS A FINANCE, BANKING AND GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER.