Tzero partners with Aspen Digital for real estate tokenization

Tzero, a leader in financial innovation and liquidity for private companies has entered into a partnership with Aspen Digital Inc. to enable its digital security (ASPEN) to trade on the tZERO ATS. The ASPEN shares represent $18 million of indirect ownership in the St. Regis Aspen Resort, a five-star, 179-room luxury hotel located in Aspen, Colorado.

tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi stated, “We are excited to join forces with Aspen Digital to enable the St. Regis Aspen digital security to trade. We look forward to beginning the onboarding process and anticipate that trading will commence on the tZERO ATS this quarter.”

The issuer of ASPEN, Aspen Digital, Inc., is managed by ER-RE, LLC., a subsidiary of New York-based real estate asset management and advisory firm Elevated Returns, LLC. Valued at $224 million during the time of the offering in October 2018, the St. Regis Aspen Resort is the first digital security within Elevated Returns’ portfolio. Elevated Returns intends to tokenize roughly $1 billion of real estate projects in the future.

Elevated Returns President Stephane De Baets said, “Investing in commercial real estate projects is often prohibitive for most investors, particularly for high-profile properties. We believe investors will benefit from the transparency, accessibility and liquidity of the ASPEN digital security through our partnership with tZERO, who we view as the leader in capital markets innovation and secondary liquidity for private assets.”

Shares of ASPEN were distributed to accredited investors through a Reg D 506 (c) offering, which closed in October 2018 and raised $18 million. Aggregate shares of ASPEN represent an 19% indirect ownership interest in the St. Regis Aspen Resort, and the remaining 81% is indirectly owned by Elevated Returns.