ING Puts Shields in Charge of RE Finance

NEW YORK CITY- ING Real Estate Finance on Thursday said it had promoted Michael Shields to managing director and Americas head. Shields will now be responsible for the company’s $6.7-billion real estate loan portfolio in the Americas, including term loans, construction loans and subordinate debt.

Shields brings 20 years’ experience in real estate lending, asset management, restructuring and workouts to his new role. He’ll also be responsible for growing ING REF’s portfolio in the Americas via investments in cash-flowing, high-quality real estate assets, and positioning the company to borrowers with a proven track record in real estate development and management, according to a release.

In a statement, Rudolf Molkenboer, global head of ING REF, says Shields “brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and expertise to his new position.” For his part, Shields cites the company’s “deep relationships” with many leading real estate companies, along with its longstanding “conservative approach to investing in high-quality, revenue-producing assets with creditworthy borrowers.”

Since joining ING REF in 2004, Shields has been directly responsible for more than $5 billion in new loan originations for US real estate properties. In the past two years, Shields and has team have restructured $2.5 billion of real estate loans.

Previously, Shields was with the real estate finance group of BHF Capital/PB Capital in New York City and Bonn, Germany, where he was a senior loan originator and relationship manager for both US and German clients. Earlier on, he was employed in the real estate finance groups of Helaba and Chemical Bank.