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Posts Tagged ‘Llenrock’

A couple of months after I quit my job at JPM to join Llenrock, I had dinner with my former trading colleagues.  True to form, all we really talked about was trading.  And that, of course, led to talk about specific trades.  It’s the trading analogue to fishing stories about ‘the one that got away’.

In my book, at the time of my departure, was a losing trade.  i.e. I had already lost money on a trade, but had not yet cut my losses in the belief that the market would move my way.  In response to some teasing about the ‘bad trade’ I pointed out that, in fact, the traded ended up moving my way after I left.  I was basically saying, “Hey, I’m not such a dummy after-all.  While I lost money initially, the trade turned and ended up actually making money.”

The response to me: “It’s a mark to market business.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Lawrence Bizjak is a Managing Director and co-head of real estate at Garrison Investment Group, where he oversees a team responsible for the origination, acquisition and execution of real estate investments at all levels of the capital structure. Garrison’s is an active originator and a buyer of performing, sub-performing and non-performing mortgages, B-notes and mezzanine debt. The firm invests nationwide in all property types.

During his 20 year career, Mr. Bizjak has held positions at Gramercy Capital Corp. (NYSE:GKK), Goldman Sachs & Co, and E&Y Kenneth Leventhal. Mr. Bizjak graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Urban Design and is a CFA charterholder.

Garrison Investment Group makes credit and asset-based investments with attractive risk adjusted returns. Their experienced team of 35 professionals enables their investment group to source and execute transactions across corporate, real estate, and financial assets. Garrison  Investment Group invests predominantly in loans, securities and asset purchases, and are actively making investments in the current market environment.

Q: As a company, tell me about the niche you have carved out for yourself and how you feel you are different from the competition. Why do you find this product type more appealing than alternative real estate asset classes?

A: Garrison has three areas of focus – commercial real estate, corporate finance, and financial/consumer assets. We are able to invest in Read the rest of this entry »

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Christopher LaBianca
President
RCG Longview

Christopher LaBianca joined the RCG Longview series of Real Estate Debt Funds in April of 2008 and serves as the President of their current high yield debt fund RCG Longview Debt Fund IV, L.P. His responsibilities include oversight of the origination, underwriting, closing, servicing and asset management of all fund investments.  Since the inception of RCG Longview Debt Fund Series in 1999, the managers, Peter Cohen and Michael Boxer (Ramius Capital Group, LLC),Jeffrey Feil and Jay Anderson (The Feil Organization), Morton Olshan (Mall Properties), and Jon Estreich (Estreich & Company), have originated more than $1.8 billion in real estate mezzanine debt and other related instruments through RCG Longview fund vehicles. The investment strategy of the funds is driven by the collective experience of the managers as owners and operators of real estate. RCG Longview thus differentiates itself from its competition by focusing on opportunities where its experience and operational capabilities add additional value beyond financial structuring.  During its ten years in business, RCG Longview has been active in practically every major US real estate market. It has made more than 350 investments secured by over $9 billion of real estate.

Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. LaBianca spent nearly eight years at Bank of America, most recently serving as a Managing Director and Co-Head of National Originations in the firm’s real Estate Capital Markets group. During his tenure as originations head, the firm consistently ranked among the top three most active contributors to CMBS issues, with total volume in the last four years exceeding $53 billion. Mr. LaBianca was responsible for developing and managing a nationwide network of fully staffed origination offices. Mr. LaBianca personally originated over $8 billion of loans for securitization while at the firm. Prior to Bank of America, Mr. LaBianca spent eight years at the former Chase Manhattan Bank, holding senior management positions in the Real Estate Finance and US Securities divisions.

Mr. LaBianca began his career as an Analyst with The Prudential before receiving his MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Whitman School at Syracuse University.  He is a member of the ICSC and is a past Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Real Estate Board of New York.  He is also a Trustee and the current Treasurer for the Roseland Education Foundation.

Q: As a company, tell me about the niche you have carved out for yourself and how you feel you are different from the competition. Why do you find this product type more appealing than alternative real estate asset classes? Read the rest of this entry »

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Starting out in brokerage, several friends told me that the mantra for rookies was “Fake it ’til you make it.” Now, it might be the owners, who those same brokers were calling on, who may have to heed the same advice. With occupancy continuing to decline and as sales prices become more and more depressed, most lenders are doing everything they can to amend and extend distressed loans. Their goal? To keep the keys in the pockets of the current owners.
Lenders across the nation are bolstering their asset management staff and taking a magnifying glass not only to a borrower’s financial statement, but also to the assets themselves. “One of the main concerns that the agencies have, and that we have, is deferred maintenance,” says David Durning, senior managing director for Newark, N.J.- based Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. “One of the most important factors in making a decision about showing some flexibility is whether the physical quality of the property is being maintained.”

In the past, many portfolio management techniques were asset-centric, but lenders are taking a much closer look at the borrower these days, and a property’s appearance can mirror a borrower’s financial health. Prudential looks for evidence that the property’s cash flow is being reinvested into the property, or whether that cash is being used to pay off other corporate bills—a possible sign that the borrower is in trouble.

For amendments and extensions, the company likes to see borrowers with some skin in the game. “Lenders like to know that borrowers have put additional capital at risk—repaving the roads, putting on new roofs, whatever,” Durning says. “Those are important signals to a lender of going forward.”

One of the largest balance-sheet lenders in the business, Chase Commercial Term Lending (formerly Washington Mutual), is also trying to get in front of the issue by expanding its asset management capabilities. “We’re reaching out more than people are reaching out to us,” says Al Brooks, president of New York-based Chase Commercial Term Lending.

Owners who are keeping the property up—through maintenance, landscaping, and graffiti removal—are at the top of the list for workouts. “During a difficult period is when people really earn their stripes as property owners,” Brooks says. The company is particularly sensitive to good owners in bad markets—cases where a specific market’s fundamentals are roiling a normally solid property, Brooks adds.

Keep your properties humming, continue to service your debt as best you can, and be upfront with your lender if you feel things are headed south. Honesty really is the best policy, lenders say.

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Gary Brandeis
Managing Director
f|b Capital Partners

Mr. Brandeis has more than 19 years of commercial real estate experience. His career has included senior level and partnership positions with Lincoln Property Company, Sage Real Estate Group, and Meridian Realty Advisors. Mr. Brandeis’ experience and expertise includes development, finance, acquisitions, dispositions, asset management, and joint ventures. Mr. Brandeis was also the founder and managing partner of PropertyLogic LLC, an innovative real estate technology company that has won numerous awards including the Digital Innovation Award given by the Realcomm Conference. He started his career in public accounting with Price Waterhouse. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Accounting from The Smeal College of Business of The Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Brandeis concentrates on generating and executing new business in the real estate sector.

f|b Capital Partners, L.P. is a Philadelphia-based private investment partnership co-founded by Michael C. Forman, a veteran investment professional with more than 20 years of experience in private equity and real estate.  f|b made its first investment in early 2003 and has since deployed over $500 million.

Q: As a company, tell me about the niche you have carved out for yourself and how you feel you are different from the competition. Why do you find this product type more appealing than alternative real estate asset classes? Read the rest of this entry »

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The idea of “pop-up” stores is nothing new.  These pop-up stores allow retailers to increase revenue during critical sales periods including the back-to-school, Halloween, and holiday shopping seasons, but without taking on the risk of a permanent location.   Recently, however, pop-ups no longer cater exclusively to these specialty shops.  Thanks to this weak economy, there is a new pop-up store strategy, and it makes perfect sense. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s every investor’s dream — buy into an asset class on the rise before any one else has caught on. . . ride it all the way up until it gets bubbly. . . and then sell it to suckers.

Whether it was buying houses in 2004 (as we did), only to sell and go short in 2007 (as we did). . . or tech stocks in the late 1990’s only to see their cataclysmic fall in 2001, we are all too familiar with the term “bubble” in recent years.  In short, “bubble” is loosely defined as an unstable boom based on speculation in stocks, often followed by a financial crash.

We’ve seen it happen in Treasuries, financials, commercial real estate, autos, and credit. We watched in tortured silence, as an over-extended housing bubble popped, triggering a seismic credit meltdown.

And now, unbeknownst to many, as we deal with banking and housing issues, there are two more bubbles that could pop. . . and soon. Read the rest of this entry »

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David Binswanger is the President and CEO of Binswanger Corporation.  I had the pleasure of meeting with him for this executive interview earlier this week.

Binswanger was founded in 1931 by Frank G. Binswanger, Sr., in the midst of the Great Depression, and his energy and vision have characterized the company throughout its history. By anticipating trends and seizing opportunities, Binswanger has grown from a single Philadelphia office to an international real estate leader with offices on five continents.

In 1990, the company reorganized its full range of services under two operating divisions: Binswanger Advisory Group, which provides real estate consulting services, and Binswanger Realty Group, which provides brokerage services. One of Binswanger’s unique characteristics is the integration of these groups to form cross-functional teams for specific client projects.

Throughout the 1990’s, Binswanger embarked on a major international expansion program, realizing that multinational corporations and institutions needed a real estate service provider with a truly global presence. Forging solid partnerships around the globe, Binswanger established local coverage of the United Kingdom, Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Continuing this trend into the 21st century, Binswanger is steadily penetrating new markets and strategically enhancing existing market coverage with new alliances and office locations. In just the past two years, Binswanger has established a presence in several major international metropolitan areas including Warsaw, San Juan and Taipei.

Today’s global business environment has created a movement among major corporations toward the outsourcing of real estate functions and the formation of strategic alliances between corporations and service providers. A forerunner in this movement, Binswanger serves such clients as Motorola, Shell, Intel, ExxonMobil, Nextel, Crown Cork & Seal, Hoechst, Comcast and Wal-Mart just to name a few.

Now in its third generation, Binswanger remains a family-owned company managed in the spirit of Frank G. Binswanger, Sr.’s vision more than 75 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jan A. deRoos, Ph.D.,
HVS International Professor of Hotel Finance and Real Estate, Cornell University Hotel School

Dr. deRoos, on the faculty of the Cornell University Hotel School since 1988, has devoted his career to hospitality real estate; with a focus on the valuation, financing, development, and operation of lodging, timeshare, and restaurant assets. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University, all with majors in Hotel Administration.

Dr. deRoos is director of the Hotel School’s Center for Real Estate Finance. A frequent speaker on these topics, Dr. deRoos regularly contributes to lodging industry conferences in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Prof. deRoos’ current research is focused on three themes; the design and implementation of hotel management contracts and hotel leases, investment returns to lodging properties and supply/demand dynamics of lodging markets.

Prior to his teaching career at Cornell, Prof. deRoos worked extensively in the hospitality industry. Industry experience includes work for the Sheraton Corporation in New York City, an engineering professional. He worked for Remington Hotel Corporation as Director of Engineering, responsible for the engineering operations and renovation planning of the firm’s owned and managed hotel portfolio, and as Senior Project Manager, responsible for the construction of new properties and renovation of existing hotels. During this period, Prof. deRoos was responsible for the construction of Marriott Hotels, Hilton Hotels, and Hampton Inns.

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Ohh the power of social networking…I have a feeling the majority of you already know about some networking websites that are currently out there (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc), but there are SO many more that are tailored to your needs and niches. In my line of work as a commercial real estate investment banker, you might wonder how this new age, hip social networking craze can be beneficial to such a unique business niche. Well, I’ll tell you – because at Llenrock, we are in tune with today’s trends.

The fact of the matter is that we understand the “social networking” philosophy – to socially engage those around you. You want to provide them with something of value, not some advertisement such as “Beautiful 3 Bedroom/2 Bathroom house for sale. FABULOUS! CALL TODAY!” That’s not how to network; that’s how to look desperate, and the majority of your audience is not going to even glance at your “fabulous” listing.

• Engage people!
• Talk to them!
• Think outside of the box!
• Keep it real!

Real estate marketing, be it at the corporate, property or personal level, has always relied heavily on relationships. There are several keys to promoting new, positive relationships via social media. Let’s review them…

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