Last week, Bridger Commercial Funding, based in Mill Valley, Calif., completed its second major securitization, in which it contributed $175 million of loans to an $816 million commercial mortgage-backed securities pool.
The CMBS deal, offered by Prudential Securities and Salomon Smith Barney, was backed by mortgages secured by a wide range of commercial real estate asset types. Greg Saunders, Bridger's chief financial officer, said regional and community banks are recognizing the fee income potential of origination loans for sale to the CMBS market.
"With banks facing concerns from regulators over levels of real estate lending, Bridger has seen a steadily growing flow of product over the last several months," he said.
Also last week, Laser Mortgage Management Inc., based in New York, announced a reduction in the book value of certain of its less-liquid portfolio assets. The affected assets are subordinated classes of Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 1997-D5, that represent beneficial ownership interests in a trust fund created by Asset Securitization Corp.
