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Berkadia Expands Its Sales Force in the Midwest

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)



Berkshire Hathaway’s joint venture Berkadia Commercial Mortgage is expanding its multifamily investment sales team with 12 new hires across the Midwest.

The new additions, all joining from Marcus & Millichap, include nine multifamily investment sales advisors and three supporting team members, who will be located in Berkadia’s Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri offices.

In the last 12 months, the team has closed 31 transactions totaling more than $300 million.

Eight of the new hires will join the Chicago office, expanding the existing office by nearly one-third of its original size, and bringing the total number of mortgage banking and investment sales professionals to 36.

The investment sales team joins the already established Berkadia mortgage banking team, making it a fully integrated regional office.

Senior Directors David Gaines and Alex Blagojevich, along with Director Michael Sullivan, are the leaders of the coordinated team.

In total, the group has brokered more than $1 billion in the sale of over 17,000 units across the Midwest.

Across Berkadia’s 70 offices, multifamily investment sales and mortgage banking production exceeded $17 billion in 2014.

Sales and finance volumes are on pace to surpass this number for the current calendar year.

About Berkadia

Berkadia is a third-party commercial mortgage servicer, as well as an approved lender for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD/FHA. The company was among the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae multifamily lenders for 2013.

Berkadia was founded in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation.

© 2015 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.

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Berkadia

Berkadia Arranges for $648.2 Million in Financing for Senior Housing Portfolio

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)




Berkadia has provided loan financing through its Fannie Mae Program for $648.2 million in financing for the acquisition of 32 senior housing properties spanning 12 states, including California, Missouri, Texas and Washington.

The borrower will use the financing for the acquisition of the portfolio, which sold for $875 million. The 10-year, fixed-rate loan features a 4.17 percent interest rate, 73.5 percent loan-to-value ratio and a 30-year amortization schedule. The individual loans were crossed collateralized and crossed defaulted.

The financing came through Berkadia’s Seniors Housing and Healthcare group, and Managing Director Christopher Fenton and Senior Director Jay Healy of Berkadia’s Seniors Housing and Healthcare group worked with NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. to secure the financing.

“Our team’s extensive underwriting experience in the seniors housing sector enabled us to secure attractive loan terms for this sizable portfolio in only 45 days from when the application was signed,” said Fenton. “This experience, coupled with our deep market insight and excellent client service, allowed us to effectively and efficiently manage this portfolio’s impressive scale and geographic scope.”

About Berkadia

Founded in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation, Berkadia is a third-party commercial mortgage servicer, as well as an approved lender for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD/FHA. The company was among the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae multifamily lenders for 2013.

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.

© 2015 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.

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Acquisitions Berkadia Berkshire Hathaway Automotive Berkshire Hathaway Energy Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance BH Media Lubrizol Marmon Group

2014 Berkshire Hathaway Acquisitions You Didn’t Hear About

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

2014 was a busy year for Berkshire Hathaway, with over $5 billion in acquisitions both directly by Berkshire Hathaway and through its companies. I’m sure you heard about the purchase of Procter & Gamble’s Duracell battery division, but did you know that other acquisitions made Berkshire the leader in beverage dispensing, and got Berkshire into automobile retailing for the first time? Here is a list of some of the other lesser-known acquisitions. Did you miss any of them?

Marmon Retail & End User Technologies Acquires Cornelius, Inc.
Date: January 2014
What it is: Cornelius, Inc. is the world’s leading supplier of beverage dispensing and cooling equipment. They manufacture and market a broad line of beverage dispense solutions for soft drink, beer, ice, juice, tea, and frozen as well as a complete line of accessories.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Acquires MyAssist, Inc. from Noel Group
Date: January 2014
What it is: MyAssist is a technology-driven, cloud-based personal assistance solution that leverages advanced technologies to give customers a customized, personal experience. MyAssist provides Mercedes-Benz and Ford with live-agent personal-assistance and telematics service using “location-aware technology” from Verizon Communications Inc.

MiTek Acquires Ellis & Watts Global Industries
Date: April 2014
What it is: Ellis & Watts is the recognized leader in the engineering, design, and fabrication of highly customized HVAC and other products sold into the nuclear, military, and other industrial end markets.

EXSIF Worldwide, Inc. Buy’s OCS
Date: April 2014
What it is: OCS Limited is a tank rental and chemical supply company based in Aberdeen, United Kingdom. OCS operates in the offshore oil and gas sector, serving clients in the North Sea.

Berkshire Hathaway Acquires Van Tuyl Group
Date: April 2014
What it is: Van Tuyl Group is the nation’s largest privately-owned auto dealership group, which ranks fifth among all U.S. auto dealership groups.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy Acquires AltaLink
Date: May 2014
What it is: AltaLink owns 12,000 kilometers of transmission lines and 280 substations that bring electricity to 3 million customers in Alberta, Canada.

Berkadia Acquires Keystone Commercial Capital
Date: May 2014
What it is: Keystone Capital is a full-service commercial mortgage banking company headquartered in Phoenix that services more than $2 billion in commercial real estate loans.

BH Media Acquires Catamaran Group
Date: September 2014
What it is: Catamaran Group publishes 12 weekly papers, with circulations ranging from 7,000 up to 15,000, serving the southern New Jersey shore area. While the individual circulations are small, the combined circulations exceed 111,000.

Lubrizol Acquires Warwick Chemicals
Date: November 2014
What it is: Warwick Chemicals is a leading global developer, producer and supplier of stain removal technology with hygiene benefits. Headquartered in Mostyn, North Wales, Warwick Chemicals has strong positions with global and regional detergent producers. Their products are an essential element in laundry detergent powders and automatic dishwashing products used across five continents and in more than 50 countries.

Lubrizol Acquires Engineered Chemistry and Integrity Industries
Date: December 2014
What it is: Engineered Chemistry supplies additives and fluids for a range of oilfield activities, including cementing, drilling, flow assurance and fracturing. It offers chemistry expertise to solve problems throughout the oil and gas drilling process. The business consists of a core manufacturing and research organization which supports a global field distribution network. Engineered Chemistry was built through a series of acquisitions over the past 12 years and is headquartered in Houston, TX. It operates 10 sites located predominantly in North America. Integrity Industries manufactures drilling fluid systems, including diesel, mineral oil and synthetic oil based fluids. The company supplies these drilling fluid systems to retail drilling fluid companies along with technical support.

Berkshire Hathaway Acquires Charter Brokerage
Date: December 2014
What it is: Charter Brokerage is a leading global trade services company providing complete customs, import, export, drawback and related services.

There you have it!

Bolt-On Acquisitions Continue to Power Berkshire’s Growth

© 2015 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.

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Acquisitions Berkadia

Berkadia Adds $2 billion to its Loan-Servicing Portfolio with Acquisition of Keystone Commercial Capital

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathway’s joint venture Berkadia Commercial Mortgage has purchased Keystone Commercial Capital.

The acquisition of the Phoenix, Arizona company will add $2 billion to Berkadia’s loan-servicing portfolio, which currently stands at $229 billion.

Berkadia is a third-party commercial mortgage servicer, as well as an approved lender for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD/FHA. The company was among the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae multifamily lenders for 2013.

Berkadia was founded in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation.

© 2014 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.

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Berkadia

Berkshire Hathaway Becomes a Leader in Loan Servicing

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Founded in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture with Leucadia National Corporation, Berkadia is a third-party commercial mortgage servicer, as well as an approved lender for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD/FHA. The company was among the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae multifamily lenders for 2013.

Berkadia’s Origin

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.

The Joys of Loan Servicing

So, what is commercial loan servicing and why is it so valuable?

Commercial loan servicers handle the administration of a loan from its origination until the time it is paid off. In this role the servicer collects and disperses mortgage payments, insurance premiums and property taxes. While the mortgage payments are disbursed to the mortgager, the insurance premiums and property taxes are held in escrow until payment is due.

In the case of loan servicing, the role is strictly fiduciary and does not place risk of loss on the servicer. Disbursement are governed by the calendar rather than by the vagaries of an insurance company’s rising and falling claims.

Huge Portfolios

According to Morningstar Credit Ratings, in the case of Berkadia, as of June 30, 2013, the total primary and master serviced portfolio stood at $253.4 billion. In short, the size of the market is enormous, and the fees, collected month by month on mortgages are regular as clockwork.

The Future

Future Berkshire growth in debt servicing can come not only from increases in portfolio size, but from possible acquisition of additional percentages of ownership in Berkadia. For example, Berkshire’s ownership in GEICO was incremental and the company did not achieve 100% ownership until 1996.

Berkadia offers Berkshire shareholders another opportunity for growth with Leucadia doing much of the heavy lifting.

© 2014 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.