–
Lewis S. Ranieri and Eric Schwartz’s New York based investment firm Ranieri Real Estate Partners has sold its commercial mortgage unit to Cantor Fitzgerald Real Estate L.P. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at office@jewishbusinessnews.com.
Thank you.
Founded in 2010, the unit called RREP Recovery Partners Manager LLC manages a fund with more than $200 million in assets, half of which is already invested. The firm states that it seeks to identify and capitalize on investment opportunities in the distressed commercial real estate sector. It invests alongside distressed financial institutions and owner/operators, across all property types. It offers loan modifications and restructuring, and other activities aimed at asset resolution.
Sheryl Lee, a spokeswoman for New York based Cantor Fitzgerald told Bloomberg in an e mail that, “RREP expands Cantor’s commercial real estate investment platform and opens up opportunities to bring additional sources of capital to the business, from clients that wouldn’t otherwise be a part of the firm.”
According to Lee, RREP’s average loan investment is $1 million, and its largest is less than $20 million.
RREP’s CEO Jon Vaccaro told Bloomberg that the two companies are considering forming a new real estate investment trust.
He said that, “Given the track record of this particular fund, one would expect that we could go out and raise additional capital. The most efficient capital today is probably a debt-focused REIT. There’s not that many of them in commercial real estate — there’s a few — and given all the real estate-related businesses that are affiliated to Cantor, it makes a lot of sense.”
