Ranieri Real Estate Partners and WL Ross Acquire Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage

Ranieri Real Estate Partners LP (RREP), a real estate financial services company, and private equity funds affiliated with WL Ross & Company LLC, has announced the completion of the acquisition of Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage (DBBM), formerly a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. Effective immediately, the company has been renamed Berkeley Point Capital (Berkeley Point). Jeffrey C. Day, who served as chief executive officer of DBBM and is an 11-year veteran with the company, and will serve as CEO of Berkeley Point. Berkeley Point originates multifamily loans for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). It is the second largest originator of Fannie Mae loans and services a $29 billion multi-family loan portfolio. Founded in 1988, Berkeley Point has 175 employees and operates out of three primary offices: Bethesda, Md.; Boston and Irvine, Calif.; and has additional offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashville and Seattle. “A high-quality acquisition of this scale within the multi-family sector is unique and rare. The new Berkeley Point provides us with an excellent in-place team, that we know well and is capable of much more," said Jon Vaccaro, head of real estate at Ranieri Partners and founder of Ranieri Real Estate Partners. "With the benefit of the strong WL Ross and Ranieri partnership, we believe Berkeley Point is poised for growth." James B. Lockhart III, vice chairman of WL Ross and former Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), said, “Berkeley Point did over $3 billion in multi-family originations last year. We look forward to working with Jeff and his strong team to help them grow in this critical part of our nation's housing market.”