LOS ANGELES, CA - CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG) today announced that its subsidiary, CBRE Loan Services, Inc. ("CBRE Loan Services"), has been added to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' Select Servicer List as a commercial special servicer. CBRE Loan Services will provide special servicing and distressed loan management services to institutional commercial mortgage lenders and other special servicers in the United States.
Standard & Poor's designates commercial special servicers based on a comprehensive assessment of a firm's operational capabilities for servicing commercial mortgage portfolios as well as its management and organization, servicing administration and financial position.
"Our commercial special service initiative offers lenders, other special servicers and bondholders the benefit of the comprehensive CBRE Capital Markets platform and our professionals' deep experience with servicing loans and managing under-performing real estate assets at a level of quality assurance that Standard & Poor's requires," said Brian Stoffers, President, CBRE Capital Markets.
CBRE Loan Services will offer its services directly to institutional lenders, such as insurance companies and banks, who find the Standard & Poor's ranking a key testament to a firm's capabilities, and on a sub-contractor basis, to other special servicers, who are challenged by the increasing volume of loans needing to be worked out.
CBRE Loan Services is staffed by professionals from the CBRE Capital Markets Group as well as GEMSA Loan Services, the joint venture between CBRE and GE Real Estate that services approximately $119 billion of commercial mortgages nationally. GEMSA is already ranked by Standard & Poor's as a master and primary loan servicer.
CBRE's U.S. special loan servicing effort complements a similar initiative in Europe, where its subsidiary, CB Richard Ellis Loan Servicing Limited, was assigned a Standard & Poor's servicer ranking for special servicing in May 2006. Standard & Poor's most recently affirmed its ranking on the European subsidiary in November 2008. The U.S. and European designations position CBRE Loan Services to assist with multi-country special servicing requirements and to provide other services, as needed, resulting from regulatory activity in the banking and financial industry.
The special servicer initiative will be led by Bill R. Frazer, Senior Managing Director and CFO of CBRE Capital Markets, and Jeffrey T. Majewski, Senior Managing Director and COO, CBRE Capital Markets. Robert P. Vestewig, Managing Director of GEMSA Loan Services, will head up the coordination of special servicer activities between CBRE and GEMSA. Mr. Frazer, Mr. Majewski and Mr. Vestewig together bring over 70 years of experience in commercial mortgage banking and loan servicing.
CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world's largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2008 revenue). The Company has approximately 30,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CB Richard Ellis offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. CB Richard Ellis has been named a BusinessWeek 50 "best in class" company three years in a row and a Fortune 100 fastest growing company two years in a row.
Source: CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc.