ONE of the islands’ largest financial firms is just settling into its offices on the third floor of the Bank of Hawaii building in Puerto Rico overlooking Smiling Cove.
Large, not in its staff of 11, but large because of the numbers they deal with.
Bridge Capital, LLC, co-owned by John K. Baldwin and Shawn Scott, make commercial loans from one million dollars up to a 100 million dollars for large ventures that can return that investment in one to two years.
“It’s called an opportunity fund and we specialize in giving commercial loans for unique situations,” said Loan Officer Jon Anderson. “We are capable of producing loans on short notice, such as the $25 million dollar loan we did in 11 days for a venture in Guam.”
Bridge Capital moved from its former headquarters in the U.S. Virgin Islands to the CNMI last January to be closer to Asia’s population centers where such dizzying numbers are every day crunchers.
“We are not operating at the consumer level. Our Qualifying Certificate does not allow us to compete with local banks or other financial institutions,” said Anderson.
“We would like to be a part of the growing markets in Asia. We have offices in Thailand and Macau and we are looking at opening an office in either Vietnam or Cambodia,” he added.
By setting their sights on the larger markets in the region, Bridge Capital is drawing attention to the CNMI where the company also believes investment opportunities exist.
“We just purchased the land lease agreement for the La Fiesta Mall in San Roque. Although there are no immediate plans for the property, there are ideas in place for the future,” said Anderson.
“We do have some equity interests and we are planning to make more investments. We are optimistic about the CNMI’s economic future in the long term. The CNMI has a lot of good things going for it as a destination—beautiful location, friendly people,” he said.
Bridge Capital also owns the Guam Greyhound Track and has done a number of business deals on Guam.
Anderson, who has been in the local and regional media for over 40 years, joined the financial services company for “a fresh challenge.”
“I love it here, especially with all the traveling I have done. It is definitely something new and different and that’s what I wanted to do,” he said.
Bridge Capital has become a community partner by donating over $18,000 to local schools for new textbooks, as well as donating to other charitable groups.
“We will continue to be a good corporate citizen and do our part to help boost the economy here in the CNMI,” smiled Anderson.
Bridge Capital is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.