Ladder Capital Finance commences operationsMortgagePress.comLadder Capital Finance, commercial real estate,
Ladder Capital Finance LLC (Ladder Capital) has announced that
it has commenced operations. Based in New York, Ladder Capital is a
newly-formed specialty finance company with approximately $1
billion of equity and debt capital that will provide comprehensive
financing options to the commercial real estate industry.
Ladder Capital will pursue opportunities resulting from the
current lack of liquidity and the long term structural changes
occurring in the commercial real estate (CRE) financing market.
Specifically, this will include the purchase, origination and
management of a diverse portfolio of CRE mortgages, including
fixed-rate and interim floating-rate mortgages, junior interests in
mortgages and mezzanine loans and commercial mortgage-backed
securities.
Ladder Capital is comprised of a highly experienced team of
industry veterans with deep relationships and expertise in all
aspects of CRE lending and investment. Brian Harris, formerly
managing director and head of global commercial real estate at UBS,
leads the team as the company's chief executive officer. He is
joined by Greta Guggenheim, president; Marc Fox, chief financial
officer; Pamela McCormack, general counsel and head of transaction
management; and Robert Perelman, head of asset management.
The management team has an average of 18 years of industry
experience, the majority of which time they spent working together
at UBS and Credit Suisse. Ladder Capital currently has a total of
11 employees and expects to have approximately 25 people by the end
of its first full year of operation. Brian Harris, chief executive
officer of Ladder Capital commented, "While Ladder Capital is a new
business, our senior management team is experienced and
well-established in our industry. We have been working together for
more than a decade and have an excellent track record of managing
risk, particularly in difficult markets such as these.
"In the short term, we will be looking to use the strength of
our new balance sheet to pursue opportunities arising from the
current disparity between supply and demand in the commercial real
estate financing market. We will enter the market cautiously and
use our collective experience in the credit markets to selectively
acquire assets."
Mr. Harris and his team are joined by Alan Fishman, who will
serve as the company's chairman of the board. Mr. Fishman has
extensive experience in the financial services industry, most
recently as the chief executive officer of Washington Mutual. From
June 2006 to December 2006, Mr. Fishman served as president of
Sovereign Bancorp (Sovereign). In June 2006, Sovereign acquired
Independence Community Bank Corporation, where Mr. Fishman served
as president and CEO from March 2001 until its sale to Sovereign.
TowerBrook Capital Partners LP, a New York- and London-based
private equity firm, and GI Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif.- and
London-based private equity firm, are the co-lead investors in
Ladder Capital.
For more information, visit www.laddercapital.com.
