Latest news with #Blackstone
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Blackstone Just Bought $2 Billion in Real Estate Loans--Here's Why It Matters Now
After completing its merger with Sandy Spring Bancorp in April, Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE:AUB) wasted no time reshaping its balance sheet. This week, the Richmond-based bank sold roughly $2 billion worth of performing commercial real estate loansoriginally acquired from Sandy Springto Blackstone (NYSE:BX), via its real estate debt platform BREDS. The loans had already been earmarked for sale as of April 1 and were ultimately priced in the low 90s to par. Atlantic Union will continue servicing the customers, while using the sale proceeds to pay down expensive funding sources and boost its securities portfolio. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with BX. For Atlantic Union, this is all about simplification and risk management. CEO John Asbury called the transaction a clean execution that supports future growth and reduces CRE exposurekey for post-merger integration. Blackstone, meanwhile, sees another opportunity to expand its growing footprint in real estate credit. The $76 billion BREDS platform has now added $20 billion in CRE loan purchases over the past two years, including chunks of the failed Signature Bank portfolio and a $1 billion haul from Germany's PBB. Tim Johnson, head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, said this deal highlights the firm's ability to craft bespoke solutions for banks offloading real estate risk. With rising rates and shifting valuations still pressuring CRE portfolios, private capital is stepping in aggressivelyand at discounted pricing. For Blackstone, that could mean solid upside. For regional banks like Atlantic Union, it's a way to stay liquid and lean while the dust settles. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Atlantic Union sells roughly $2B in CRE loans to Blackstone
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. Atlantic Union Bank has closed the sale of about $2 billion in performing commercial real estate loans to Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, the company announced Thursday. The CRE loan sale, primarily covering locations in the Washington, D.C., metro area, was announced as part of Virginia-based Atlantic Union's merger with Sandy Spring Bancorp, which closed in April. The lender retained customer-facing servicing responsibilities and sold the loan portfolio at a percentage of par value in the low-90s. 'After closing our acquisition of Sandy Spring, we have been focused on integration and execution,' Atlantic Union CEO John Asbury said in a statement. 'The loan sale transaction reduces our CRE concentration and frees up capacity for potential future growth.' Blackstone, an alternative asset manager with nearly $76 billion of investor capital under management, has snapped up $20 billion of CRE loan portfolios over the past two years. The acquisition includes a roughly 20% stake in the $17 billion Signature Bank CRE debt portfolio. 'This transaction demonstrates the breadth of our market-leading platform and deep expertise providing solutions to financial institutions for their commercial real estate portfolios,' Tim Johnson, global head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, said in a statement Thursday. Several banks have sought, in recent years, to limit their exposure to commercial real estate. Souring CRE loans played a prominent role in a surprise $252 million loss at New York Community Bank that nearly spurred its collapse in January 2024. The bank, months later, announced it would sell roughly $5 billion in mortgage warehouse loans to JPMorgan Chase in an effort to boost liquidity levels. A strong concentration of CRE loans also contributed to the termination of an expected merger between HomeStreet and FirstSun. HomeStreet sold $990 million in multifamily CRE loans to Bank of America in December, then inked a $300 million deal to be purchased by California-based Mechanics Bank. Bank of America has been a frequent acquirer of cast-off CRE loans. The bank bought roughly 2,000 commercial multifamily real estate loans from Seattle-based WaFd in May 2024 for about $2.9 billion. Analysts at Raymond James and Piper Sandler saw the Atlantic Union-Blackstone deal as 'positive.' 'The transaction frees up liquidity to support loan growth, purchase securities and reduce wholesale funding and should be supportive of the bank's [net interest margin] outlook,' Raymond James analysts wrote. They expect 'a significant improvement in financial performance over the next 12 months as the loan pipeline continues to build, core NIM appears likely to expand, and asset quality remains strong.' Recommended Reading Citi acquires Deutsche Bank's Mexico license
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Atlantic Union sells $2B CRE portfolio to Blackstone unit
In a deal that closes the loop on its transformative acquisition of Sandy Spring Bank, Atlantic Union Bankshares said it sold $2 billion in performing commercial real estate loans to Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies. The $38 billion-asset Atlantic Union announced its intent to sell a CRE portfolio in October, when it struck its $1.3 billion deal for Sandy Spring. The subsequent loan sale, announced late Thursday, reduces Atlantic Union's CRE exposure while providing the means to pay down high-cost funding and add to the securities book. The episode "is another proof point of Atlantic Union's ability to execute and deliver on transactions that create long-term value for our shareholders," President and CEO John Asbury said in a press release. "[It] reduces our CRE concentration and frees up capacity for potential future growth." The Richmond, Virginia, bank will continue servicing the CRE loans it sold to Blackstone. Retaining servicing rights is crucial because it provides an opportunity to preserve the banking relationships with borrowers and, potentially, make new loans when the existing credits mature, Hovde analyst David Bishop wrote Friday in a research note. Atlantic Union had already marked the CRE portfolio to market, so there was no loss associated with the sale, even though the loans were sold at a discount, according to Bishop. Indeed, the deal might yield a small gain, he wrote. "We view this sale as a major first-step positive," Bishop wrote. An Atlantic Union spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment at deadline. Banks selling off commercial real estate loans has become a recurrent theme as financial institutions look to limit downside vulnerability to a sector marked by concerns about retail, multifamily and office vacancy rates. In December, the $62 billion-asset Valley National Bancorp in New York sold a $1 billion CRE portfolio to Brookfield Asset Management. The same month, HomeStreet in Seattle agreed to sell a $990 million CRE portfolio to Bank of America. HomeStreet, the holding company for HomeStreet Bank, later agreed to sell itself to the $16 billion-asset Mechanics Bank in Walnut Creek, California. Blackstone Real Estate Debt Advisors, which originates loans and invests in real estate-related debt for institutional and private investors, has completed several recent transactions involving bank CRE portfolios. In May 2024, Blackstone acquired $1 billion of loans originated by a German bank backed by multifamily, office and hospitality properties in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Five months earlier, in December 2023, Blackstone acquired a 20% stake in a joint venture holding $17 billion of CRE loans originated by the failed Signature Bank. The Atlantic Union loan sale "demonstrates the breadth of our market-leading platform and deep expertise providing solutions to financial institutions for their commercial real estate portfolios," Tim Johnson, global head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, said in a press release. Atlantic Union closed its acquisition of the Olney, Maryland-based Sandy Springs ahead of schedule in April. The deal established the company as the largest regional bank in Maryland and Virginia. With Sandy Spring under its belt, Asbury said the company plans to pivot south and seek growth opportunities in North and South Carolina. "We push south and make the investment in the Carolinas over time. That will be the next big thing," Asbury said in a recent interview with American Banker. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
First They Bought Entire Neighborhoods – Now Wall Street Is Coming For The Equity In Your Neighbor's Home
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Wall Street's move into single-family housing made national headlines just a few years like Blackstone and Invitation Homes were on a buying spree, snapping up tens of thousands of homes and building large-scale rental portfolios. Entire communities were developed specifically to rent, not own. It was one of the biggest shifts in the U.S. housing market in decades, and it priced out plenty of would-be homeowners in the process. That frenzy has cooled. But the capital hasn't gone far. Now, instead of buying the house, institutional investors are buying the upside. They're targeting the equity inside owner-occupied homes. This new strategy doesn't involve tenants or any property management. Just a stake in future home appreciation. The instrument making this possible is called a Home Equity Agreement (HEA).It gives homeowners a lump sum of cash in exchange for a share of the home's future value when it sells. Unlike a home equity line of credit (HELOC), there's no debt, monthly payment or interest rate. That model has gained traction fast, especially with firms looking for real estate exposure without operational drag. Companies like Barclays, KKR, Nomura, Carlyle Group and others have invested billions of dollars into securitizations backed by HEAs. These securitizations have given large investors a new pipeline into U.S. residential equity. The structure of HEAs is designed to give investors returns that outperform the actual price movement of the home. This is achieved through an equity exchange rate. In simple terms, if the home's value increases by 3% annually, investors can realize annual returns of 15% or more. And while appreciation is the obvious draw, the downside protection is quietly just as important. If home prices fall, the same exchange rate provides a buffer that allows investors to still come out ahead with positive gains. All of this is happening against the backdrop of one of the biggest pools of wealth in the country; $35 trillion in U.S. home equity. Most of it is sitting idle and untapped. It was only a matter of time before institutional investors created a new opportunity out of this market. HEAs weren't structured for individuals, and the funds buying them weren't open to the public. However, that's beginning to change. , a fintech-backed platform, is opening the door through its U.S. Home Equity Fund (HEF). The private fund that allows accredited investors to participate in a diversified portfolio of HEAs. The fund invests in home equity in some of the most stable housing markets across the U.S. and has achieved a 17% IRR on its realized investments since inception. The single-family rental boom may have dominated the past decade, but home equity is next. Wall Street has already moved in. Now, with the right access point, individual investors can follow. Image: Shutterstock This article First They Bought Entire Neighborhoods – Now Wall Street Is Coming For The Equity In Your Neighbor's Home originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Bloomberg
19 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Stock Movers: Nike, Nvidia, AUB
On this episode of Stock Movers: - Nike (NKE) shares are on the upswing this morning after forecasting a smaller-than-expected drop in revenue for the current quarter, a sign that the sportswear company's earnings trend may have hit an inflection point, analysts say. That comes after a string of strategic moves from CEO Elliott Hill, including a refocusing on sports and a cleanup of inventories. - Nvidia (NVDA) shares are rising as it is close to becoming the first company to reach a $4 trillion market capitalization, after its shares rallied back to a record following a plunge earlier this year. The company's biggest customers, including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet, are projected to increase their spending on computing infrastructure, with annual AI spending expected to rise to nearly $2 trillion by 2028. - Atlantic Union (AUB) shares are up after the bank said it sold about $2 billion of its performing commercial real estate loans to Blackstone.
