(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkadia, Berkshire Hathaway’s joint venture with Jefferies Financial Group, has expanded its affordable housing capabilities with the addition of a tax credit syndication and advisory platform.
This team of specialized experts comes from Riverside Capital, in which Berkadia invested in 2018. The integration will offer clients access to the already robust Berkadia Affordable Housing team and add tax credit syndication services, advancing the goal of offering developer clients access to seamlessly integrated solutions for all of their affordable housing capital needs.
“This expansion not only gives Berkadia the opportunity to cement our position as a leader in the affordable housing space, but it allows us to dig even deeper and better serve a specialized niche of developers and investors who are working diligently to meet the need of additional affordable housing units across the country,” said Berkadia CEO Justin Wheeler. “Riverside has a solid record of success in providing capital solutions to the affordable housing industry’s leading development companies, so this additional capability will benefit Berkadia and Riverside customers alike, particularly as we pursue an aggressive growth strategy in the affordable housing market.”
Since the collaboration with Riverside began in 2018, Berkadia has expanded its capabilities in the affordable space with the strategic hiring of mortgage bankers and investment sales advisors across the country, in addition to tax credit equity placement through Riverside as well as conventional joint venture equity solutions.
“According to NLIHC’s April report, there are 11 million extremely low-income renter households and only 4 million affordable and available units, leaving a shortage of 7 million units,” stated Sebastian Corradino, former Riverside President and CEO and current Senior Managing Director on the Berkadia Affordable Housing team. “As Berkadia, we will continue to partner with investors and developers to reduce the affordable housing gap, fulfilling the business objective to do well with the social imperative to do good. Our entire team is incredibly excited to now be part of the Berkadia Affordable Housing platform.”
“The former Riverside acquisitions, investor relations and asset management teams will continue to provide the exceptional, personalized level of service our clients expect while also giving them access to new opportunities the Berkadia network offers,” said Corradino.
In 2018, Berkadia’s loan origination volume surpassed $26 billion while its investment sales platform totaled over $8 billion.
About Berkadia
Founded in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation (now known as Jefferies Financial Group), Berkadia is a third-party commercial mortgage servicer, as well as an approved lender for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD/FHA.
The company is among the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae multifamily lenders.
Berkadia owes its origins to GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation, which was acquired in 2009 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. Christened Capmark Financial, the company had $10 billion of originations in 2008 and a servicing portfolio of more than $360 billion before running into bankruptcy in October 2009.
In a deal approved by the bankruptcy court, Capmark sold its mortgage loan and servicing to the newly formed Berkadia in a deal worth $515 million.
The deal brought Berkshire into the heart of the commercial loan serving business, and the company has one of the largest commercial real estate servicing portfolios.
© 2019 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.