"We are in negotiations to acquire three more regional realestate investment banks," says Steve Spayer, director of brandmanagement at Cohen, which acted as agent, principal or advisor in$2.7 billion worth of real estate transactions last year. "I can'ttell you more than that, except to say that we expect to close onthese deals by the end of the year."

West Coast is the ninth acquisition in a series of purchasesthat began for Cohen Financial in the 1980s. "We plan to becomenational," says Spayer. "That doesn't mean we'll have officeseverywhere, but we plan to expand in key locations." Cohen has nineregional locations, including offices in Denver, San Francisco andHouston.

The 22-year old company engages in a wide range of real estateinvestment banking operations, including debt and equity placement,direct investment and investment management. Spayer says Cohenrecently completed a $32-million "value creation" play for 111Sutter St. in San Francisco. The building's owner wanted to takeadvantage of escalating rents in Downtown San Francisco, so Cohenarranged short-term financing to allow for repayment of old debtand the upgrade of mechanical equipment in the building.