Portrait of a Freddie Mac B-Piece Investor

Ray Cleeman

WASHINGTON, DC–Miami-based Pensam Funding’s original focus was to invest equity into multifamily real estate assets. That focus was forced to broaden, though, as cap rates compressed over the years. The company has launched a number of strategies all with the goal of achieving certain return targets and hurdles for its investors, Ray Cleeman, head of capital markets tells GlobeSt.com. “There are ways for us to play in different parts of the capital stack that help us achieve the returns that our investors are seeking.”

One of those ways has been to invest in Freddie Mac’s K-Certificates. It is a new investor to Freddie Mac having only acquired two B pieces in the last year. That makes its perspective interesting — Freddie Mac has a stable of regular investors but it is also always trying to expand its investor universe. Also, as with any investment, the B piece is traditionally the riskiest tranche. Cleeman offers some insight into why an investor would want to take on that risk, at least with the GSE.