Nicklaus teams with Guggenheim

Chicago – Guggenheim Partners, a global diversified financial services firm, and Nicklaus Investments, the real-estate investment arm of the business owned by golfer Jack Nicklaus and his family, formed a new business called Guggenheim Nicklaus Partners. 

Nicklaus-designed Aspen Glen Golf Club is situated on the Roaring Fork River with views of Mt. Sopris.

GNP’s primary purpose will be to finance and invest in high-quality residential real estate and golf resort communities around the world, featuring Nicklaus Design courses as the centerpiece of each development. Nicklaus Investments, along with Nicklaus and his team at Nicklaus Design, bring decades of experience in the golf industry to GNP. In turn, Guggenheim will bring experience in finance and real estate development, with more than $100 billion of assets under supervision.

“I have been very active in the design business for almost as many years I have played professional golf,” Nicklaus says. “I am proud of the global design business we have created and the other ways in which we continue to impact the business of golf.

“We at Nicklaus Design are enjoying the most successful years in the history of our firm, and our partnership with GNP will allow us to continue to grow the business in other areas,” he adds. “For the last four decades, we have worked with the world’s best real estate developers to create some of the finest courses around the globe. With the introduction of GNP, we can extend our services beyond design, and offer full-service support from financing to the finished product. GNP will complement and enhance what we are currently doing at Nicklaus Design.”

“We are greatly excited about this opportunity and our new venture with Nicklaus Investments,” says Todd Morley, managing partner of Guggenheim. “Jack Nicklaus is one of the greatest athletes ever to have played a professional sport; but, more importantly, he and his family represent excellence and integrity which are essential to any successful enterprise.” 

“The opportunity to partner with this fine family is a principle reason for our great enthusiasm in forming GNP,” says Andrew Rosenfield, managing partner of Guggenheim. “GNP allows us to leverage our collective skills, knowledge and experience in finance, branding and real estate development with the Nicklaus family. We believe that the collective talents of Guggenheim and Nicklaus allow GNP efficiently to provide capital to developers of residential and resort communities.”

The marriage of high-end real estate and Nicklaus Design golf courses has been among the most successful in the world. Real estate on Nicklaus courses outperforms similar property developed by competitors, and maintains a quality and distinction unique in the world of residential and resort properties. Nicklaus Designs is a leading golf course design firm, with more than 50 courses under construction, and 280 courses open for play in 28 countries around the world.  

Nicklaus Design made the environment a priority at Aspen Glen, with trout spawning areas and a bald eagle habitat being protected.

“There are great synergies that exist between Nicklaus Design and GNP,” says Gary Nicklaus, president of Nicklaus Investments. “Nicklaus Design is involved from the onset with the best developers and therefore is positioned uniquely to understand and evaluate the developer’s financial needs. We are confident that GNP will provide an extremely valuable turnkey service for developers that does not exist elsewhere.”

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group will serve as the primary source of debt capital for GNP. RBS is the world’s sixth largest bank and second largest in Europe. Jack Nicklaus has been a spokesperson for RBS for three years.

“RBS and my father have enjoyed a strong relationship and RBS has proven that they recognize the worldwide appeal of the Nicklaus name and the equity in the brand,” Gary Nicklaus says. “As they have learned more about the impact Nicklaus Design has on the real estate market, RBS has co-financed several of the projects we have in development, and they will continue to be a vital part of what GNP sets out to accomplish.”

Photos of Aspen Glen Golf Club in Carbondale, Colo., are courtesy of Nicklaus Designs and photographer Jim Mandeville.