Wes Edens

American businessperson (born 1961)

Wesley Robert Edens (born October 30, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and founder of New Fortress Energy.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Wes Edens (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Oct 30, 1961.¹

About

Edens is co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise of the NBA based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While Edens was co-owner, the Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship. He is also the co-owner of association football holding company V Sports alongside Nassef Sawiris, whose assets include ownership of Premier League football club Aston Villa and a 29% stake in Portuguese Primeira Liga team Vitória S.C.

From Wikipedia’s article on Wes Edens, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Fortress Investment GroupFounder⁹

Early life and education

Date not recordedOregon State University³

Career

Occupation: businessperson.⁵

Date not recordedFounded Fortress Investment Group⁴

Lehman Brothers and BlackRock

He began his career in 1987 at Lehman Brothers, where he was a partner and managing director until 1993. He then went to BlackRock's private equity division BlackRock Asset Investors, where he remained until 1997 as a partner and managing director.

Fortress Investment Group

Edens was one of five principal partners who founded Fortress Investments in 1998. His investment style was described in a 2007 The Wall Street Journal article as one based on "contrarian bets, creative financing and a knack for building business from investments." Fortress became the first publicly traded buyout firm in February 2007, with Edens and his partners taking the company public through an initial public offering.

By the time it went public in 2007 Fortress' assets under management included both private equity and publicly traded alternative investment vehicles — fourteen private equity funds, four hedge funds, and two real estate vehicles. When the Japanese financial holding company, Nomura Holdings acquired 15% of Fortress for $888 million in December 2006 with proceeds going to the five principals, Edens and his partners became paper billionaires. Edens became co-chairman in 2009, and helped the company, which saw its stock price fall to below one dollar after the subprime mortgage crisis, resurge by offering subprime lending. He was chairman of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC from 2015 to May 2016.

New Fortress Energy

In 2014, Edens founded New Fortress Energy, a global natural gas supply and infrastructure company. New Fortress Energy has stated that their main goals include becoming one of the world's leading producers of carbon-free energy (focusing specifically on low-cost green hydrogen) and existing as a net zero emissions company within ten years.

In 2019, New Fortress constructed a nearly $1 billion floating LNG terminal in Jamaica's Old Harbour Bay. The prime minister of Jamaica stated that the terminal's presence will result in overall cheaper energy costs for the country. New Fortress Energy has been involved in multiple philanthropic projects in Jamaica after its work completion with the LNG terminal. In October 2020, New Fortress Energy invested in H2Pro, a startup that develops low-cost green hydrogen technology. Through New Fortress' Zero, its renewable hydrogen division, the two companies will partner in order develop and commercialize green hydrogen technology. The Zero division also partnered that same month with a gas-fired power plant in Ohio in order to blend hydrogen to produce electricity.

In January 2021, the company announced that it would acquire natural gas company Hygo Energy Transition Ltd, as well as Golar LNG Partners LP, the shipping segment of Golar LNG, for $5 billion to expand its presence in Brazil. New Fortress plans to launch a pilot program in 2021 to test the usage of hydrogen as an energy source of power generation.

New Fortress Energy (NFE) has a contract with the Puerto Rican government until 2026 for the supply of liquefied natural gas to Puerto Rico.

Brightline

In 2007, Edens and Fortress paid $3.5 billion to acquire the South Florida rail line founded by the 19th-century industrialist Henry Flagler. Inspired by Les Standiford's Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean, Brightline's first line was an inter-city 67-mile route (108 km) between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida. The company recently built and opened a 170-mile track extension (270 km) to the Orlando International Airport. The trains are expected to travel up to 125 mph (200 km/h) and commute from Orlando's airport to Miami in approximately three hours. The ridership target is 6.6 million passengers within its first full year of service.

Beginning in 2024, Fortress plans on constructing a second line on the West Coast, called Brightline West, connecting Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, California with a stop in Apple Valley, California via a 260-mile-long track (420 km). This 135-minute commute aims to carry passengers at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour (320 km/h). Trains on this line will be fully electric and run along the Interstate 15 right of way. Brightline's service is modeled on Eurostar's Paris-to-London commute.

Springleaf Financial Services

Edens was the catalyst at Fortress behind the purchase of subprime lender Springleaf Financial Services. By 2015 the value of Springleaf Holdings Inc. had ballooned to "$3.5 billion — putting the firm's gain at more than 27 times Fortress's original investment of $124 million in 2010." Edens was heralded as the "new king of subprime lending" by The Wall Street Journal. Fortress acquired 80% of Springleaf in August 2010 for $125 million and used Springleaf and Nationstar to "build out a financial-services business within its private-equity unit, which manages $14.3 billion in assets."

Nationstar

Edens is chairman of Nationstar Mortgage, formerly known as Centex Home Equity Company, LLC, a subprime home equity mortgage lender, which was acquired by Fortress for $575 million in 2006. In 2005 Centex was "operating in major U.S. markets in 25 states and delivered more than 33,000 homes in the United States." In 2014 Edens' connection to Nationstar Mortgage was cited by opponents of a proposed public-financing deal for the construction of a new arena the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center. They advocated for more public resources to rehabilitate foreclosed homes managed by Nationstar.

Cincoro Tequila

In 2016, Edens co-founded Cincoro Tequila, along with Michael Jordan, Wyc Grousbeck, Jeanie Buss, and Emilia Fazzalari. "Cincoro" is a portmanteau of the Spanish words for five and gold. Its parent company, Cinco Spirits Group, is named in honor of the five founders who aimed to distill a tequila with a smooth, long finish similar to a fine cognac or whiskey.

Cincoro produces four tequilas: a blanco, a reposado (aged 8 to 10 months), an añejo (aged 24 to 28 months), and an extra añejo (aged up to 44 months). The agave used to produce Cincoro's tequila is hand-selected from two regions in Jalisco. These two regions include the highlands, which is famous for its soils that are high in iron oxide, and the lowlands, which is composed of mostly volcanic rock. After being harvested, the agave is cooked for 35 hours. Cincoro's tequila is aged in American whiskey barrels for 10 to 14 months in addition to the regulatory minimum of 14 months. Its extra añejo blend is a combination of tequilas that are aged between 40 and 44 months.

FlyQuest

In 2016, Edens launched FlyQuest, League of Legends, which is a professional esports team. Edens purchased the brand from Cloud9 for $2.5 million in December of that year. FlyQuest began competing in the North American League Championship Series on January 20, 2017. Players included former Cloud9 Challengers An "Balls" Van Le, Hai Du Lam, Daerek "LemonNation" Hart, and Johnny "Altec" Ru. Edens intended for his new franchise to assemble multiple teams in order to compete across a variety of esports games and global competitions.

FlyQuest's brand emphasizes environmental issues through its jersey design and ikebana displays at competitions. Each time FlyQuest wins a game, the team plants 100 trees. Its initiatives also include fundraising for marine wildlife conservation.

In September 2022, Edens sold FlyQuest to the Viola family, owner of the Florida Panthers NHL team.