In its latest effort to reach first time home buyers, Freddie Mac is launching a new 3% down payment program that casts aside a number of restrictions in its existing low down payment offerings.

“We’re comforted by the fact our position in the market is so strong, and our ability to gain [loan] allocation is quite important," co-CEO Kewsong Lee says.

Banyan Street Capital and Balandis Real Estate are tapping the commercial mortgage bond market to help finance the revitalization of a mixed-use development in downtown Atlanta.

Qualifying borrowers have their maximum monthly payment reduced to 15% of the total of the household income, but the maximum dollar amount that can be extended is capped at $4 million.

If Freddie Mac's credit-risk transfer activities continue to grow, mortgage lenders could eventually see a reduction in the guarantee fees they pay to the government-sponsored enterprise, according to CEO Donald Layton.

Harley Marine Service has been expanding rapidly, racking up debt; a $455 million deal backed by its tugboat and barge fleet and contracts will lower funding costs.

The €300 million Taurus 2018-1 also finances Italian retail assets that the Partners Group, based in Switzerland, purchased from the Blackstone Group in February.

The former Kirkland & Ellis partner will remain in Chicago, where he has performed work for clients in automotive finance, technology, banking and marketplace lending.

The agency’s 2013 guidance is frequently portrayed as either an overdue push to stamp out lending discrimination or a case study in regulatory overreach. In truth, its impact was minimal.

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (formerly Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon) has named Robert A. Davis Jr. as special counsel in its tax and ERISA practice.

All of the loans in the £206.6 million deal were funded by institutional investors; the transaction allows these institutions to exit their investments by pooling loans into collateral for bonds.

GCO Finance, a joint venture between AGCO Corp. and DLL, a unit of Rabobank, is marketing its $896.55 million of bonds backed by agricultural and construction loans and leases.