CCRE Plans to Go Public: WSJ

NEW YORK CITY-Two months after CEO Anthony Orso predicted that CMBS originations nationwide would surpass $125 billion this year, Cantor Commercial Real Estate is preparing for an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening. A spokeswoman for CCRE, the commercial-property lending arm of Cantor Fitzgerald, tells GlobeSt.com the firm has no comment.

Citing sources said to be familiar with the matter, the WSJ reported that CCRE had hired Deutsche Bank to lead the IPO, the size of which is not clear. It's expected to take place later this year, reportedly prompted in part by the desire of early investors in CCRE to be able to sell off their interests.

The WSJ report comes on the heels of another CRE lender's IPO, a 13.25-million-share offering Wednesday by Ladder Capital Corp. at $17 per share. Shares of New York City-based Ladder began trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the LADR symbol.

CCRE was the sixth-largest originator of CMBS in 2013 with $5.3 billion in new issues, the WSJ reported. It was also the largest in multi-borrower originations by volume last year as of Oct. 31, the company announced this past November.

“We are bullish on the CMBS and commercial real estate lending market, and predict it will exceed $125 billion in 2014,” Orso said in November. “We are starting to see real optimism emerge, as job growth and lending demand continues to rise and investors are increasingly looking to secondary markets in search of higher yield.  We have a healthy pipeline of over 70 loans totaling $1.9 billion, and expect to continue to aggressively grow our national origination platform and floating rate and large loan program in 2014.”