Finance CMBS
Hoeffel Joins Investcorp as Managing Director
Sept 25, 2008

Christopher Hoeffel joined Investcorp's United States-based real estate team as managing director with responsibility for its debt investment business. In his new role, Hoeffel will have responsibility for the expansion of Investcorp's debt platform including capital deployment for the recently formed $1 billion Investcorp Real Estate Credit Fund L.P., as well as for a range of debt investment activities including originating and acquiring mezzanine debt, subordinate debt, CMBS, and preferred equity positions in U.S. commercial real estate. Hoeffel will report directly to John Fraser and Jonathan Dracos, co-heads of Investcorp's real estate group. Hoeffel brings 25 years of experience in commercial real estate, including the origination, structuring, underwriting and securitization of commercial mortgages and other real estate securities, as well as the acquisition of performing and non performing mortgages.  He was a founding member of the commercial mortgage group at Bear Stearns, where he had responsibility for the origination and sale of over $200 billion of commercial real estate debt in the United States, Europe and Japan, and created some of the most highly regarded securitization programs in the industry.


 
Recent CMBS Headlines
paulson A Bailout for Commercial Real Estate?
"Right now, we believe there is insufficient systemic capacity to refinance expiring, performing commercial real-estate loans," reads a letter from a dozen commercial real estate trade groups to Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson, according to the Wall Street Journal this morning. In other words, the commercial side of the business, long perceived as relatively healthy compared with the residential side, is warning of dire straits ahead unless refinancing money is available in the near future.
CMBS Delinquencies Speeding Up: Fitch
Back in January 2008, long before the capital markets took their astonishing twists, Fitch Ratings made a sobering prediction: By the end of the year, its CMBS loan delinquency index would be double or triple the 0.28 percent recorded at the end of 2007. Fitch’s crystal ball turned out to be right on the money. On Friday the ratings agency reported that CMBS delinquency reached 0.64 percent for November. At this pace, Fitch projects that CMBS delinquencies could hit 2 percent by the end of 2009.
ProLogis Buy Eases Debt Squeeze on European Unit
Facing a looming CMBS debt maturity next summer, ProLogis European Properties is getting some much-needed breathing room from its corporate parent. In a deal valued at about 43 million euros, or $61 million, Luxemborg-based PEPR is selling ProLogis a 20 percent share of a private investment fund.
Loan-Extension Picture Could Be a Lot Worse
In the first decline since July in the delinquency rate among U.S. commercial real estate loan collateralized debt obligations, that rate fell from 3.13 percent in October to 2.80 percent in November, according to the latest information from Fitch Ratings.