CHANGE of CORPORATE NAME, MATERIAL PROGRESS on INITIATIVES and ELECTION of DIRECTORS

Change of Corporate Name to Agility Capital Holding, Inc.

Agility Real Estate (ENX:AGIL)

TAMPA, FL, UNITED STATES, January 31, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Agility Real Estate Inc. (“Agility” or “Group”) (Euronext: AGIL) reports the following.

Through 2023, the business model of the Group (then known as Thunderbird Resorts) was to develop hospitality properties in emerging markets. In January 2024, and given ongoing hotel and condo conversions to residential, the Group announced a shift of its business model to more broadly being a real estate developer, owner and operator specialized in emerging markets and not exclusively in hospitality only. The Group subsequently received approval by shareholders to rebrand as Agility Real Estate. The Group has continued to communicate as recently as in its 2024 Half-year Report (released on September 30, 2024) that it has been evaluating further enhancements in its business model. In this regard, and after significant study, below are 4 observations (now minimally updated) related to a final rebranding that we made in our press release dated November 8, 2024:

1. We are as much a finance team as a real estate one: A) We have financed and exited real estate investments in 5 countries, and there are few with as much in-house expertise as we have to develop, finance and successfully exit emerging market real estate investments; B) We have as a Group raised capital publicly and having provided material returns over the years through international project finance to private equity, family funds and high net worth individuals; C) Our corporate finance strengths of reporting, audit and legal are assets that have not been fully exploited; and D) Our core corporate team all have finance backgrounds.

2. There is a real estate deficits in our core markets: Based on our decades of experience, we have seen that Latin American markets (in which we continue to have teams in 3 countries) are experiencing: A) Materially higher housing deficits than do developed markets; B) Lack of capital to close those housing gaps; and C) Lack of flexible office space that is affordable for small local companies, which have been our major office tenants and a market we understand well. Peru is particularly impacted in these areas.

3. There is a major gap in the US restaurant sector: Peter LeSar, in his new role as CEO, brings a new dimension to the business as follows: A) In his private life, Peter LeSar founded two restaurants that were both recognized by the World’s 50 Best in its Discovery Series and that have received media coverage from around the world; B) He is also the author of Restaurant Strong, a book that shares his decade plus of research into restaurant category leaders; and C) He is networked in the industry and is approached regularly for support by restaurant groups. Leveraging Peter’s experience with the US restaurant industry, the Group has observed that there are scalable, financially very attractive single unit and small group business models owned by talented entrepreneurs who have access to neither the institutional capital nor to the strategic guidance they need to build the 7 to 20 high-performing units generally required to achieve Series A funding. Please note that the Group itself has developed numerous restaurants, bars and catering businesses within its hotels & resorts, and we continue to have institutional expertise.

4. We have a multi-market platform: Salomon Guggenheim works from Zurich, Switzerland. Peter LeSar is now based out of Tampa, Florida. Our General Counsel, Yazmina Escobar is based out of Panama City, Panama. Our team includes finance and real estate professionals in Peru and Panama, and we have ongoing hospitality expertise in Latin America. With the right strategies, we have a resilient team that is capable of growing this platform to the benefit of shareholders.

Based on Management analysis and work in the areas outlined above, the Group proposed to shareholders a final rebranding from Agility Real Estate to Agility Capital Holding Inc., which proposal was approved at the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting held on January 31, 2025 with 100% of the votes in favor. Shareholders may now view updates at www.agility.capital and may communicate with the team at the new emails in the bottom of this release. The Group expects that its new corporate name will be reflected (under trading symbol AGIL) in the Euronext before the end of February, 2025.

Material Progress on Initiatives

The Group is pleased to announce that it has made progress on the following initiatives:

1. Restaurant Investment Strategy: The Group has defined a strategy of investing debt and/or equity into pre-Series A restaurant companies and, tied to those investments, acquiring majority rights in new development companies that own the intellectual property and global development rights for those brands. Under certain conditions, the Group may also acquire minority rights if the value of the opportunity is exceedingly high at the moment. The Group is targeting concepts that have the potential to achieve 20% or greater net operating incomes at the store level and revenue growth rates that exceed peers on a sustained basis.

2. Boutique Investment Bank: The Group has made the decision to initiate a boutique investment bank to support restaurant companies. There is a significant opportunity in the trillion-dollar restaurant sector (as estimated by the National Restaurant Association) as there are few investment banks with deep expertise and networks in the restaurant space. Salomon Guggenheim, our Executive Chairman, is an experienced investment banker based out of Zurich Switzerland. Peter LeSar, our CEO, has passed two of three required securities licensing exams (SIE and Series 63) in the United States, and has now affiliated to an important broker-dealer as is required at this stage. We forecast to have operations open in 2025.

3. Management Consultancy: The Group has made the decision to initiate a Management Consultancy for Restaurants based on Peter LeSar’s strategic research and consulting work as summarized in the book Restaurant Strong. The goal is to assemble a team of industry experts to advise our investees as well to advise restaurant companies in which we have no investment. We have observed that there are few advisory groups in the sector that can both provide access to capital and to management consultants with deep experience working for category leaders. Our goal is to step into that gap and to evolve into a complete strategic corporate advisor. We have now launched that advisory under the brand DineRock at www.dinerock.com.

4. Preliminary Investments: The Group has now made preliminary investments into two restaurant companies that own between them four brands, three of which have the potential to achieve the metrics as described under “Investment Strategy” above. One of these brands is in Texas. The remaining brands are in metro New York City. The Group has acquired majority positions in development companies for both groups as per the structure described under “Investment Strategy” above. At this time, all brands have a single unit and the Group will dedicate 2025 to optimizing prototype stores for each of those three brands.

5. Share Buybacks: On November 8, 2025, the Group announced that it would invest up to $500,000 to purchase shares to be held in corporate treasury. There was no time limit announced and these purchases continue to be open ended. As of the date of publication of this press release, the Group has purchased 14,122 shares (or approximate 2% of its issued & outstanding shares).

Election of Directors

The Group reports the results of the Company’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held in La Mesa, California on January 31, 2025:

• On the matter of election of the board of directors, the shareholders voted 99% to 100% in favor of electing Salomon Guggenheim, Stephan Fitch and Reto Stadelmann to serve on the board for the ensuing year.

• Baker Tilly was appointed as auditor for the ensuing year and the board of directors was authorized to affix their remuneration.

• The shareholders received and considered the financial statements together with the auditor’s report thereon for the financial year ended December 31, 2023.

• The change of the corporate name of Agility Real Estate Inc. to Agility Capital Holding Inc. was approved by a 100% of votes in favor. The new name, new website (www.agility.capital), emails and other branding assets will replace Agility Real Estate as of no later than March 1st, 2025 with some of those assets now active.

Appointment of Officers

Following the meeting of shareholders, our Board of Directors appointed the following persons as officers for the ensuing year:

• Salomon Guggenheim, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors
• Peter LeSar, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer
• Yazmina Escobar, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary


Appointment of Committee Members

Based on the recommendations made by the Nominating Committee, the Board approved the following committee members:

Audit Committee Stephan Fitch (Chairman)
Reto Stadelmann
Advisory member: Peter LeSar

Compensation Committee Reto Stadelmann (Chairman)
Stephan Fitch
Salomon Guggenheim

Nominating and Governance Committee Stephan Fitch (Chairman)
Reto Stadelmann
Salomon Guggenheim

Investment Committee Stephan Fitch (Chairman)
Advisory members: Salomon Guggenheim and
Peter LeSar

ABOUT THE COMPANY

This is the last press release under the brand Agility Real Estate, which was an emerging market developer, owner and operator of hospitality, residential and office properties. The mission of the rebranded Agility Capital is as a publicly traded investment & advisory serving the restaurant and real estate sectors. More information can be found at www.agility.capital.

Contact: Peter LeSar, Chief Executive Officer with email peter@agility.capital. Yazmina Escobar, General Counsel with email yazmina@agility.capital.

Peter A Lesar
Agility Real Estate
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