Commercial real estate lending

Washington Trust shares plunged after the Westerly, Rhode Island, company disclosed it booked an office deal in the third quarter, boosting the size of its portfolio while other lenders are pulling back.

The company sold debt in three parts, according to a person familiar with the deal, including selling more of an existing bond due in 2053. The reopening of the 30-year bond yields 1.6 percentage point over Treasuries.

The amount of distressed assets rose 10% in the first three months of the year, according to a new report from MSCI Real Assets.

Small and regional banks have been rocked by deposit outflows following the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, raising concerns that will crimp their ability to provide finance to borrowers.

The unguaranteed loans are secured by one or more first-lien commercial real estate loans. The notes have a break-even default rate cushion of 2.39%.

Potters, who has headed CMBS businesses at SocGen and Merrill Lynch, will focus on digital and automated commercial real estate loan securitizations.

Key retail vacancies, a drop in office occupancies, plus a combination of lower oil prices, a housing market oversupply — worsened by the coronavirus pandemic — caused loan-level performance issues.

The transaction is also the first securitization for ACREC. The entity is also taking on multiple roles, acting as sponsor, issuer and collateral manager.

In a move becoming more commonplace for CRE CLOs, the collateral manager can direct modifications that are not subject to servicing standards in deal documents.

The 3.3 million-square-foot behemoth, which features an indoor ski slope and amusement park made a $9.3 million Aug. 2 payment on about $290 million.

Goldman Sachs Group hunts for a new office campus in Dallas that could become the Wall Street bank’s largest U.S. presence outside of Manhattan headquarters.

Fears of widespread credit losses have largely subsided, but demand for new commercial real estate loans remains lackluster because many companies are sitting on so much cash they don’t need to borrow. Meanwhile, competition from private equity groups and other nonbank lenders is escalating.

Raising the capital gains tax and code changes could have more of an impact on the public debt market than rising interest rates, according to a panelist at the Urban Land Institute's Spring event.

STWD 2021-FL2 is pricing a $1.27 billion managed commercial real estate commercial loan obligation that allows the issuer to reinvest principal proceeds.

Credit investors are stepping into a void left by banks and insurance companies and providing debt financing for top-quality hotels in a bet on a post-pandemic recovery, according to a report from the real estate services firm JLL.

About $4 billion in value was erased from 118 retail-anchored properties with commercial mortgage-backed securities debt after reappraisals triggered by payment delinquencies, defaults or foreclosures.

Nearly all of the loans were originated by affiliates of Prime; a majority of the loans were for property acquisitions (26, 72.6%), with the remainder for refinance.

Already contending with stressed retail, hotel and restaurant loans, bankers are beginning to view office lending — historically a safe bet — as increasingly risky as companies of all types rethink their space needs.

Ares Management is among five issuers to have sponsored CRE CLO transactions so far in 2021; Starwood REIT's collateral advisor has also launched a CDO for project finance and corporate infrastructure loans.

Declining month-over-month delinquency levels and the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations potentially give hope to more normalized economic activity.