NEW YORK CITY–Two companies in separate transactions havesignalled their intent to expand and diversify their holdings inthe commercial real estate capital market. In one transactionFive Oaks Investment Corp. has acquired all of theequity interests of Hunt CMT Equity LLC from Hunt MortgageGroup for $68 million with the intent of increasing itsinvestments in the CRE mortgage space. In the other transaction,Morgan Properties, which typically invests inmultifamily properties, has acquired a B-Piece from Freddie Macthrough its K-Series program. It too plans to increase its exposureto this asset class. Meanwhile KKR Real Estate FinanceTrust recently sold its CMBS B-Piece portfolio for netproceeds of $112.7 million — a significant chunk of its B-Pieceportfolio.

Five Oaks Investment Corp.

The assets Five Oaks Investment acquired include junior retainednotes and preferred shares of a commercial real estatecollateralized loan obligation, a licensed commercial mortgagelender and eight (8) loan participations.

The CLO assets include performing transitional floating ratecommercial mortgage loans with a portfolio balance of $346.3million, collateralized by multifamily, retail, office, mixed-use,industrial and student housing properties. The securitization poolis financed by $290.7 million of investment-grade notes. As ofMarch 31, 2018, the CLO had $2.9 million of cash available forreinvestment.