
Forum Investment Group Strengthens Credit Platform with New Head of Debt
Throughout his career, Jason has built a reputation for deep credit experience, rigorous underwriting, and strong investment performance across public and private markets. Prior to joining Forum, Jason spent over 12 years at Janus Henderson Investors as a Portfolio Manager and Global Securitized Products Analyst, where he led research and investment selection across a range of securitized fixed income strategies, including CMBS and ABS. He played a key role in managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios and driving risk-adjusted returns through market cycles.
Prior to Janus Henderson Investors, Jason served as Director of Structured Securities at TIAA-CREF, where he led CMBS research and contributed to the construction and management of fixed income mutual funds. Early in his career, as an Associate at Gramercy Capital Corp, Jason's responsibilities included asset selection, surveillance, and structural leadership on both cash and synthetic securitizations backed by commercial real estate assets.
'Jason brings a valuable combination of institutional investment discipline and real estate credit depth that will be instrumental as we expand our debt strategies,' said Lee Beck, President of Forum Investment Group. 'His ability to navigate complex capital structures and assess risk across the real estate and securitized landscape will enhance the value we deliver to our investors and borrowers.'
'I'm excited to join Forum at such a pivotal time in the firm's growth,' said Jason Brooks. 'Forum's integrated platform and long-term investment approach create a strong foundation for expanding our credit strategies. I look forward to building on that momentum and helping to deliver innovative, risk-aware debt solutions that support both our investors and real estate partners.'
About Forum: Forum Investment Group ('Forum') is a Denver-based boutique investment management firm dedicated to empowering individual investors by investing through real estate cycles. With assets in over 20 states, Forum built its foundation in development and evolved into acquisition and financing, providing access to a range of real estate investments. For more information, please visit ForumIG.com.
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CNBC
20 minutes ago
- CNBC
Greenhouse growers take aim at Trump's 'tomato tax' on Mexican imports
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It stems from the termination of a nearly 30-year-old trade agreement specific to Mexican tomatoes. Growers like Spielmann hoped — and still hope — the agreement would be renegotiated instead. Because NatureSweet works on both sides of the border, he says it's impossible to scale back Mexican operations without also hurting domestic ones. The footprint of NatureSweet's Arizona greenhouse could hold 30 football fields, Spielmann said. The company, whose tomatoes are primarily sold in grocery stores, planned to more than double its capacity in the United States, in response to growing demand and a desire to innovate. But it has now put that expansion on hold, he said, because of the change in trade policy. He says the new tariff will support Florida growers, who mostly plant in open fields, at the expense of everyone else, including consumers, who've grown accustomed to enjoying a wide variety of tomatoes grown in greenhouses year-round. "We understand that there's a need to protect the Florida tomato production, but also we should be protecting the total U.S. tomato production," Spielmann said. Moving more operations to the U.S. would present hurdles for NatureSweet. The climate in Mexico is better for growing tomatoes, he explained. And the partial-year H-2A visa program for farmworkers doesn't account for greenhouse operations that need employees for a full year. It would "take years and a lot of money" to transfer more greenhouses to the U.S., said Tom Stenzel, executive director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Alliance, whose members include greenhouse tomato growers with operations in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Economists have warned that the new tomato tax could mean price increases of up to 10%, harming both consumers and restaurants that rely on tomatoes. Industry groups that represent companies that distribute Mexican tomatoes in the U.S. say their workers are now at risk. "There is such a wide selection of tomatoes, and there's so many different factors that go into bringing all those different varieties to the store shelf," said Dante Galeazzi, CEO and president of the Texas International Produce Association, which represents warehouses handling imported produce. The White House did not respond to questions but referred NBC News to a statement Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gave last week when he announced the end of the trade agreement. "Mexico remains one of our greatest allies, but for far too long our farmers have been crushed by unfair trade practices," he said. Critics say the trade agreement's safeguards didn't prevent Mexican tomatoes from being "dumped," or being sold at unfairly low prices, in the U.S., despite being renegotiated several times in an effort to help level the playing field. "People say, 'you're protectionist,'' said Tony DiMare, president of DiMare Fresh, which has operations in Florida and California. "You're darn right I am." The U.S. needs "boundaries and guidelines and trade laws to keep these countries in check," he said. The number of family farms has dwindled in recent years, according to Robert Guenther, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, which spearheaded the original trade case against Mexican imports. Mexican tomatoes now comprise roughly 70% of the tomatoes consumed in the U.S. "We're talking about 100 years of domestic tomato supply that we don't want to see go away and this will help," he said. The Commerce Department's decision to impose anti-dumping duties is in line with tariffs imposed on other products, he said. Political leaders and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in Texas and Arizona aren't convinced that the tomato tax will ultimately benefit the U.S. A statement from Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, cited a Texas A&M study estimating that nearly 50,000 jobs in Arizona and Texas are tied to the import of tomatoes, jobs she said are now at risk. "Donald Trump's reckless trade war is raising prices, threatening our economic growth and killing jobs," she said. In June, four Republican lawmakers in Arizona and Texas warned against abandoning the agreement in a letter to Lutnick. "This agreement has safeguarded American jobs, stabilized markets, and driven agricultural innovation without burdensome government interference," they wrote. The Republican-dominated Legislature in Texas passed a resolution opposing the Trump administration's withdrawal from the agreement. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a staunch Trump ally, signed it last month.


New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Coca-Cola to roll out new version of Coke sweetened with American cane sugar
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Orange juice importer sues Trump, says Brazil tariffs will mean higher prices for consumers
President Donald Trump's tariffs on Brazil could push up the cost of orange juice at major American supermarkets like Aldi, Walmart and Wegmans by as much as 25%, according to one US-based orange juice importer. Johanna Foods, a US-based importer and seller of orange juice, has sued the Trump administration, alleging that the threatened 50% tariffs on goods imported into the United States from Brazil would cause a nearly $70 million hit to its business and result in steeply higher prices for consumers. New Jersey-based Johanna Foods on Friday filed a complaint in the Court of International Trade in New York, claiming that President Donald Trump's July 9 letter to Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announcing the tariff wasn't a formal executive order, nor did it invoke any legal basis for which the tariff could be imposed. Classifying itself as a 'cornerstone of the national orange juice supply chain,' Johanna Foods said in the complaint that it and its Spokane, Washington-based subsidiary Johanna Beverage Company supply nearly 75% of private label not-from-concentrate orange juice customers in the United States. Brazil is the largest producer of orange juice in the world, accounting for 75% of global exports, and supplies more than half of the OJ consumed in America, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Johanna Foods supplies retailers such Aldi, Walmart, Sam's Club, Wegmans, Safeway and Albertsons, according to the complaint. Johanna Foods also sells its branded orange juice, Tree Ripe, to stores mostly in the Northeast. But the entirety of that orange juice come from Brazil, the company said. Johanna Foods estimated that a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods including OJ would cause the company's annual costs to surge by an additional $68 million, an amount that 'exceeds any single year of profits in the 30-year history' of the business, the company claimed. Importers initially pay all duties and tariffs and then pass those on 'dollar for dollar' to the company, Johanna Foods noted in the complaint. Such a cost spike would pose an 'immediate and unmanageable financial burden' that would force Johanna Foods to raise prices on its customers that would in turn cause a 20% to 25% price hike for consumers, the company estimated. The added costs also could imperil the company's 685-person workforce in New Jersey and Washington, the company alleged. The company noted that the tariffs threaten to cause a 'significant, and perhaps prohibitive' price increase for a breakfast staple. 'The not-from-concentrate orange juice ingredients imported from Brazil are not reasonably available from any supplier in the United States in sufficient quantity or quality to meet [Johanna Foods'] production needs,' according to the complaint. 'Presently, oranges grown in Florida are used primarily for producing orange juice concentrate due to poor quality of the product, with very little of the crop dedicated to [not-from-concentrate orange juice].' Plus, the Florida citrus market has been negatively impacted in recent decades by crop disease, hurricanes and urban development. Florida's orange crop in 2025 could be the lowest in 95 years, according to the USDA's most recent Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook, published in March. Florida's not alone in its crop woes. Extreme heat and a historic drought in Brazil have hampered output, causing prices to climb steeply in recent years. The average price of a 12-ounce can of frozen orange juice concentrate hit a record high of $4.49 in June, up 55% from 2022, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. Johanna Foods is the latest small business to sue the administration over its tariffs. In late-May, the US trade court ruled in favor of the businesses, finding Trump exceeded his presidential authority to impose the country-wide tariffs. However, a federal appeals court allowed those tariffs to take effect while they're under further review in court. The company asked the court to declare that the Brazil tariff is unconstitutional, in that it's not allowed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and to prevent the administration from enforcing the broader countrywide tariffs announced on April 2. The Trump administration has not officially formalized a 50% tariff on Brazil nor provided a mechanism for how it would be levied. 'The administration is legally and fairly using tariff powers that have been granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to level the playing field for American workers and safeguard our national security,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement emailed to CNN. The letter to Brazil tied the massive, proposed tariff to Trump's discontent with the ongoing criminal trial against the country's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing ally of Trump's who was charged with plotting a coup d'état to remain in power. It wasn't the first time Trump used the threat of tariffs to try to influence other countries' domestic policy decisions. He threatened Colombia with higher tariffs if the country didn't accept deportees from the US (Colombia ultimately accepted the deportees and avoided those tariffs.) Trump also imposed tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China over claims that they enabled fentanyl trade and facilitated illegal migration to the United States. Still, Trump's letter to Brazil included a stipulation similar to those made to other heads of state: That there would be 'no tariff' if the country or its companies decided to manufacture in the United States. However, unlike the more than 20 other countries that received tariff threats that same week, the United States ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year. CNN's Elisabeth Buchwald contributed to this report.