Andrew Beal

At age 19, Beal became a real estate investor when he bought a house in Lansing for $6,500 and started leasing it for $119 per month. Beal became known for buying properties, renovating them, and selling them. In 1976, he attended an auction of federal properties in Washington, DC and bid on an apartment building in Waco, TX. His winning bid was $217,500. Three years later he sold the building for more than $1 million. Also in 1976, he enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, TX, but left school to focus on business endeavors.

In 1981, Beal and a partner bought two housing project buildings in disrepair, the Brick Towers in Newark, New Jersey, for $25,000. Two years later, they sold the repaired buildings for $3.2 million to a private investor. In 2017, he sold his Dallas, TX estate, listed previously for $132 million, through Concierge Auctions for $36.2 million.[12]

In 1988, Beal opened a bank in Dallas, and in 2004, another in Las Vegas. Since then, the banks have purchased financial assets and held them as the market improved. The Banks’ purchases have included:

• Power generation and infrastructure bonds during the post-Enron California rolling blackouts and energy-deregulation crisis in 2001
• Debt instruments backed by aircraft after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the USA
• Commercial and real estate loans during the global credit crisis of 2008

Based on the Uniform Bank Performance Report from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council,[13] Beal Bank’s return on assets (ROA) was 8.1 in 2008, several times in excess of its peer group (insured savings banks with assets greater than $1 billion).[14] From 2009–2012 Beal Bank generally exceeded its peer group.[15]

Beal Bank USA's ROA is generally several times in excess of its peer group (insured commercial banks with assets greater than $3 billion).[14]

Beal Bank and Beal Bank USA report combined total capital in excess of $2.7 billion and combined total assets in excess of $7.2 billion as of June 2019.[16]

They have a total of 37 branch locations and offer online banking also. Both banks are members of and are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). They offer deposit products to the public including CDs, money market accounts, statement savings accounts, and IRA CD accounts that are insured by the FDIC. Because they do not offer consumer loans or checking accounts, the banks are considered wholesale banks. Both banks purchase pools of non-agency residential first liens and commercial real estate-secured loans in order to fund commercial loans and participations in loans and syndications, through affiliates.

Beal’s major businesses as of 2021 include:

• Beal Bank, based in Dallas
• Beal Bank USA, based in Las Vegas, NV, and founded in August 2004 (formerly Beal Bank Nevada)
• CSG Investments. Inc.,[17] based in Dallas
• Loan Acquisition Corporation,[18] based in Dallas
• CLG Hedge Fund, LLC,[19] based in Dallas

In 1997, as part of a space privatization trend encouraged by the federal government, Beal started an aerospace company to build rockets with the goal of placing communications satellites in orbit. Operating with more than 200 employees from a 163,000-square-foot space in Frisco, Texas, Beal Aerospace focused on a three-stage, 200-foot-tall rocket. Powered by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene, the engine eliminated the need for a separate ignition system because, as the hydrogen peroxide oxidized, it ignited the kerosene.

Facing competition from NASA's Space Launch Initiative, Beal closed the company and ceased operations on October 23, 2000. Beal cited NASA's commercial practices as the primary reason for closing, including the difficulty private-sector launch systems face when competing with the governmental subsidies of NASA.[20][21]

Beal has donated millions of dollars to support science and math initiatives. Through his banks, Beal is an annual title sponsor of:

• The Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair,[22] affiliated with Southern Methodist University
• The South Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair,[23] affiliated with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Both fairs are sanctioned events of the International Science & Engineering Fair, and open to students in grades 6 through 12 with winners moving on to national and international competitions.

Beal Bank was the sponsor for the Chemistry category of the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), held in Dallas in May 2023.[24]

Beal also donated $1 million to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science[25] in Dallas, which opened in December 2012. Beal’s companies donated more than 200 computers to the Dallas Independent School District [26] for student use.