Business & Finance
Business and Finance
Business and Finance
Tue, September 15, 2009
Mon, September 14, 2009 Black Creek Capital: FundCore Finance Group Targets Opportunities in Commercial Real Estate Mortgage Market
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - September 14, 2009) - The team that previously ran the commercial real estate lending platform at Merrill Lynch for the Americas has joined together with Black Creek Group, a Denver-based real estate private equity firm, to establish FundCore Finance Group -- a commercial real estate mortgage lending platform.
FundCore brings together, in a fully-integrated platform, the combined expertise of the former Merrill Lynch team in commercial real estate debt, syndication and securitization, with that of the Black Creek Group which has a long-term track record of hard asset underwriting and operating experience, as well as distressed investing expertise.
FundCore's senior management team previously worked together at Merrill Lynch from 2001 through 2009, during which time they originated over $44 billion of loans. The team includes Steven Ball, who previously ran commercial real estate lending at Merrill Lynch for the Americas and Asia; John Mulligan, former head of syndication and risk for Merrill's lending group; George Kok, former head of Merrill's conduit lending program; and Kevin Davis, a senior originator within Merrill's lending group. Members of the senior management team also have experience as life insurance company lenders and have been active in commercial real estate lending since the mid-1980s. The FundCore team also includes 9 professionals that joined the firm from Merrill's lending group.
Black Creek Group, founded by John Blumberg, Jim Mulvihill and Evan Zucker in 1991, has deployed in excess of $6 billion in capital on behalf of institutional, high net worth and retail investors and has been successful in building a variety of successful commercial real estate companies such as DCT Industrial Trust (
"There is a significant supply-demand imbalance for commercial real estate credit," said Steven Ball, President of FundCore. "There are over $1.4 trillion of loans maturing by 2012 and little known supply of capital as a result of the inactivity in the CMBS markets and slowdown in new lending by money center banks."
FundCore will focus primarily on first mortgage lending in addition to b-notes, mezzanine and bridge financing with an emphasis on secured, first lien, fixed-rate product up to 75% loan to value in the $10-$50 million size range. Its target includes performing Class A and B commercial properties with strong sponsorship in the retail, industrial, office, multifamily and hospitality sectors located in solid submarkets within the top 50 MSAs in the U.S. With offices in New York, Denver and Los Angeles, the company has significant committed equity capital in place and is actively working on securing additional capital commitments. The company will also actively pursue separate account management strategies for large institutions, including sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, bank trusts and endowments.
FundCore is fully staffed with origination, due diligence, closing and legal personnel, is fully operational and currently issuing term sheets on its target product. The company intends to act as a balance sheet lender, but will focus on TALF, syndication and securitization as the commercial real estate debt markets continue to evolve.
"We see a strong opportunity to fill an unmet gap in the commercial real estate lending market," said Evan Zucker, Managing Principal of Black Creek Group. "By offering financing at up to 75% loan-to-value ratios -- while life companies are generally operating in the 50% - 60% loan-to-value range -- FundCore can service re-financings as well as provide new financing to opportunistic buyers who acquire distressed/foreclosed properties."
