Ranieri, Ross Complete Acquisition of Renamed Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Ranieri Real Estate Partners L.P. and private equity funds affiliated with WL Ross & Co. L.L.C. have completed their acquisition of Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage, formerly a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. The powerhouse multi-family loan origination and servicing company has been renamed Berkeley Point Capital, but Jeffrey C. Day, an 11-year veteran of the company, remains CEO, as announced last fall.

The initial announcement of the acquisition last September indicated that the deal would probably close before the end of 2011. The delay appears to have resulted from nothing more than typical timing slippage of no particular consequence.

In any case, it doesn’t appear to have affected the deal’s rationale, based on the fundamentals in the multi-family market. “With housing destabilized, multi-family housing is in significant demand,” Jon Vaccaro, head of real estate at Ranieri Partners and founder of Ranieri Real Estate Partners, told Commercial Property Executive. “Currently, it’s the fastest-recovering asset class in commercial real estate.”

James Lockhart III, vice chairman of WL Ross and former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, noted that Berkeley Point did more than $3 billion in multi-family originations last year alone.

Berkeley Point originates multi-family loans for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration and services a $29 billion multi-family loan portfolio. It’s the second-largest originator of Fannie Mae loans and a participant in Fannie Mae’s Delegated Underwriting and Servicing program, which accounts for about half of Berkeley Point’s lending.

The company has 175 employees and operates out of three primary offices: Bethesda, Md.; Boston; and Irvine, Calif., with additional offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashville and Seattle.