By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON – Jared Kushner’s global investment firm, Affinity Partners, has raised more than $3 billion in committed funding from international investors, a person familiar with the fund-raising effort told Reuters on Thursday.
Kushner, a former top aide to former President Donald Trump who is married to his daughter, Ivanka, formed the Miami-based Affinity Partners last summer after deciding to step away from politics, and began raising money in the fall.
Kushner plans to invest in American and Israeli companies that are looking for international expansion opportunities in India, Africa, the Middle East and other parts of Asia.
Kushner’s firm has received commitments of more than $3 billion, the source said, adding that he expects to continue fund-raising efforts for the next few months to close these and add potential additional commitments.
Information on specific investors was not disclosed, but Affinity was targeting American institutions and foreign investment institutions, including sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals.
Affinity is hoping to close its first deal in the first quarter of 2022, the source said.
The firm has hired about 20 people, including private equity veterans Bret Perlman and Asad Naqvi, and plans to focus on U.S. based investments as well as those in the Middle East.
At the Trump White House, Kushner helped broker deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in a six-month flurry last year. He also helped negotiate a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
He played a prominent role in Trump’s failed 2020 reelection campaign, but has steered clear of Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. Kushner tried to distance his father-in-law from fringe, far-right social media platforms after Trump was kicked off Twitter following the deadly riot on Jan. 6.
Kushner hopes to create “an investment corridor” between Israel and Saudi Arabia, by working with Israeli and Gulf companies and investors, the person said.
He has also written a book about his White House experience that is expected to be published by HarperCollins in 2022.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons and Sonya Hepinstall)
