Lightstone DIRECT's Godbersen: HNW investors want deal access and sponsor co-investment

High-net-worth investors want deal-level access, detailed underwriting, visibility into the business plan, meaningful sponsor co-investment and control over capital, Soren Godbersen, chief growth officer at Lightstone DIRECT, told IREI on October 13. He frames private wealth as complementary to institutional capital, with direct-investment platforms giving individuals a more institutional-style way to participate.

Lightstone DIRECT closes on an asset first, invests a minimum of 20 percent of the equity and owns and operates the property, Godbersen said. Individual investors are buying the same deals the firm pursues with its own capital, after the same underwriting.

Godbersen said opening the platform to individuals has not changed how the firm underwrites or selects assets. Greater transparency reinforces disciplined underwriting, he said, because investors evaluating a single transaction can see the specific asset, business plan and risk-return profile.

Allocator appetite for co-investment reached a five-year peak in survey coverage this publication reported in September, and Godbersen argues individual investors now want the same seat.

The account comes from one sponsor executive rather than a survey of buyers, so his read on high-net-worth expectations is directional. The 20 percent equity minimum is a stated term of how Lightstone DIRECT invests its own balance sheet alongside outside capital.