Salt Lake-based equity fund announces purchases

SALT LAKE CITY — An 18-month-old, Utah-based private equity fund with ties to China announced this week that it has purchased about $50 million in three properties in June alone.

The ROC Fund, short for Real Estate Opportunity Capital Fund, looks for financially distressed properties throughout the western U.S., said ROC co-founder and chief operating officer John Pennington.

Properties like large apartment complexes are researched, and then the fund uses private investors' cash to pay for them at massive discounts.

There are no ROC properties in Utah now, but the company is committed to staying in the Beehive State because many of its general partners live here. The company also appreciates the smaller market, Pennington said.

— Rebecca Palmer