Phoenix real estate investment company eclipses $1 billion in assets – The Business Journals

Three years after launching Fundamental Income Properties, Chris Burbach, his partners and employees reached a new milestone at the end of 2022, eclipsing $1 billion in assets.
“The sky’s the limit in terms of trying to build a multibillion portfolio and business,” said Burbach, co-founder of Fundamental Income Net Lease Real Estate Index and Fundamental Income Properties. “I think you have to take that approach if you’re going out and trying to partner with people for a long period of time.”
Burbach and Alexi Panagiotakopoulos launched Fundamental Income Properties in April 2020 after securing a $500 million equity commitment from Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc. to invest in properties to buy and lease back single-tenant buildings across the country. Burbach said he wants to continue building a diversified portfolio by investing across different industries, property types and tenants.
“It was a pretty crazy time to negotiate a $500 million equity commitment in my house, probably in my pajamas,” Burbach said. “We felt fortunate [because] we were able to invest money and help businesses come out of [disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic].” 
Fundamental Income Properties invests in the companies on behalf of Brookfield into real estate that Fundamental Income leases to the companies, operating as a landlord. A few local examples would be Carvana Co.’s inspection facility in Tolleson and Main Event, which opened its location earlier this month in Tucson.
“[If] they want to open a new location, [we] want to give them capital to open new properties if they want to expand their facilities,” Burbach said. 
In total, Fundamental Income Properties has acquired more than 240 properties spanning more than six million square feet across 35 different industries, according to a news release.
Net Lease Real Estate Index and Fundamental Income Properties operate out of an office at Esplanade I in Phoenix’s Camelback Corridor. The companies have 25 total employees with two dedicated to the net-lease side and the other 23 working for Fundamental Income Properties.
Fundamental Income Properties is staffed with seven partners who are familiar with one another as they’ve worked together or known each other for years, including Burbach’s brother Matt. Four of those partners, including Burbach and Panagiotakopoulos, worked at Scottsdale real estate investment trust Store Capital Corp. Last September, Store Capital inked a proposed all-cash deal to be acquired by Singapore-based wealth fund GIC and Chicago-based Oak Street Real Estate Capital in a deal valued at about $14 billion.
“Everything we do is partner-led,” Burbach said. “When we are dealing with clients from originations to underwritings to closings to portfolio management and reacting to their needs, you’re always dealing with a partner.”
Burbach and Panagiotakopoulos launched ETF, the net-lease side of the business in March 2019 as a way to make real estate investing accessible to people trading on public markets. The fund is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NETL” and is focused solely on net lease real estate investment trusts. 
An ETF is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, similar to typical stocks. It is a collection of multiple stocks or bonds in a single fund. Burbach said that side of the business has reached about $100 million in assets and has a goal of getting more retail investors to access to the net-lease sector.
“We had a strong finish to 2022, investing over $550 million and demonstrating the value of a dedicated real estate capital partner capable of supporting clients operating in all market environments and virtually all industries,” Panagiotakopoulos said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing on our trajectory as companies strive to efficiently capitalize their businesses, make acquisitions, execute growth plans, reduce leverage, or create liquidity and value for their shareholders.”
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