ABSTRACT
Al Fortunatello’s real estate empire had its beginnings in the 1980s when the juggernaut of real estate investment trusts had started to roll. In the early 1980s, the boom in US office construction and favourable taxation legislation had enabled investing taxpayers to offset losses on property against tax. Booming profits provided Al with a ‘war chest’ to acquire a range of properties in twenty-two US states, ranging from office developments and shopping malls, to hotels and condominiums. As the US economy flourished in the 1990s, so Fortuna Inc.’s profits continued to soar, reaching a peak of $267 million in 1998. This was a great source of satisfaction to Al, who hankered after expanding into Europe, where his immigrant family had originated. One autumn day in 1999, he decided that he would send his trusted lieutenant and vice-president, development, Karl Neilssen, to look at a possible acquisition in England: Verdant Holdings Ltd.
