(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. is creating a US commercial real estate platform with several key hires from rival investment bank Barclays Plc.
Nomura tapped Larry Kravetz as head of US commercial real estate and commercial mortgage-backed securities and Frank Gilhool as head of US commercial real estate warehouse financing, according to a statement. The bank has also hired a number of others for the platform, including Andy DiPietro.
All three previously worked at Barclays, with Kravetz and Gilhool in roles overseeing portions of the bank's commercial real estate business, according to the statement.
The new commercial real estate team fills a longstanding gap in Nomura's securitized products and private credit unit, said Gordon Sweely, the group's global head, in an interview. The unit already includes capabilities from residential real estate to asset-backed securitization, insurance and collateralized loan obligations, among other areas, leaving commercial real estate a notable omission, he said.
"This was a gaping hole that we've had in our platform over the years, said Sweely. "The chance to hire talented people and the recent rebound in the commercial real estate market made it a great time to fill the gap."
Others joining Nomura include Mike Fedorochko, Luke Power, Adam Scotto and Pete Taylor, according to the statement. Nomura will likely be hiring more people for the new team in the coming months, Sweely added.
Nomura helped pioneer the commercial mortgage backed securities business in the 1990s under trader Ethan Penner. But at the end of that decade the Japanese lender said it was exiting the commercial real estate business.
Barclays has recently made a push to staff up its securitized products team, hiring Shaishav Agarwal from Deutsche Bank AG and Guanqing Xiang from Bank of Montreal.
"Securitized Products remains a key growth focus area for Barclays," said Sofia Rehman, a spokesperson for Barclays. "We have a top-tier financing franchise and have made strong progress in our trading build out. This is backed by a strong bench of talent, which we continue to grow most recently with the hires of Shaishav and Guanqing. Our plans and strategy remain unchanged."
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