Starz Real Estate (Starz) has formed a new joint venture with Ready Capital Corporation (Ready Capital), a commercial mortgage REIT headquartered in New York, to originate circa €300m of new commercial real estate loans over the next two years.
The new joint venture will focus on deploying commercial real estate bridge and term loans between €10m and €40m in size across the UK, Benelux, Dach Region, Italy and Portugal with up to 75% LTV across sectors including office, residential, mixed use, student housing, logistics, self-storage, and selective retail and hotel opportunities. The joint venture can also offer construction lending in the above mentioned continental European locations.
The deal reflects further institutional confidence in Starz, following backing from a Middle East Sovereign Wealth Fund at the end of last year to originate €900m of loans with the latest transaction in that fund comprising a €68.5m senior facility to Union Street Investments for a multi-office investment platform in the Netherlands.
David Arzi, CEO of Starz, said: “This partnership with Ready Capital will significantly expand our capability to service the increasing demand for agile, mid-market capital across the UK and Europe, bolstering our existing lending strategy.”
“We are working in a challenging yet exciting landscape in the wake of the pandemic, with new opportunities as assets change hands or need repurposing to suit new demands. We are pleased to have an institutional investor of this calibre backing us, with our streamlined underwriting processes ensuring we can take capital to market in an efficient and decisive manner.”
“This new JV partnership with Starz follows through on our commitment to expand Ready Capital’s commercial real estate lending business internationally,” said Thomas Capasse, CEO of Ready Capital. “With a history of sourcing high quality loans from strong sponsors, the team at Starz has an investment philosophy that aligns well with the credit foundation of Ready Capital’s lending strategies, plus they share our hands-on approach to loan servicing and asset management.”
Ready Capital is externally managed by Waterfall Asset Management, LLC.