Blackstone Leads Bidding for Signature Bank’s $17B CRE Loan Portfolio

1400 Broadway, which houses one of Signature Bank’s former offices. Image courtesy of CommercialEdge

Blackstone is currently the front-runner in the recently closed bidding on Signature Bank’s $17 billion commercial property loan portfolio. The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission is seeking to sell the collapsed bank’s collection of 5,137 real estate loans worth $33.2 billion, referred to as SIGCRE-23.

If Blackstone’s bid wins, the firm will service $17 billion in loans secured by office, industrial and retail assets, the majority of which are based in and around New York City.

According to reporting from The Real Deal, Blackstone’s competition to take over this portion of the bank’s debt includes Starwood Capital Group and Brookfield Asset Management. The same article states that the firm is in talks with Rialto Capital for assistance with servicing the loans, should they be declared the winner.

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The $33 billion debt portfolio is a component of a larger collection of $60 billion in Signature Bank loans being sold by Newmark on behalf of the FDIC, according to Reuters. The firm’s Co-Heads of U.S. Capital Markets Adam Spies, Doug Harmon and Robert Griffin alongside Executive Managing Director John Howley are overseeing the sale, which began in September.

The loans are divided into 14 pools, 12 of which are joint ventures ranging from $267.5 million to $5.9 billion, while the other two are all-cash pools worth $309 million and $899 million. Four of the pools consist entirely of mixed commercial real estate as well as market-rate multifamily. Collateral for the loans includes office, industrial, retail, hospitality, health-care and self storage assets.

The official winners could be announced at any time, while the projected closing date for the all the loan pools is around mid-December.

What else is there to collect?

The other portion of SIGCRE-23 is a $15 billion portfolio of multifamily loans, primarily for rent-regulated apartments around the same area. An affiliate of the Related Cos. is likely to assume a 5 percent stake in the portfolio, while the FDIC planning to hold the remaining 95 percent interest as part of its statutory obligation to protect low-income residents.

At the time of its collapse in March 2023, Signature Bank held assets worth $110.4 billion, $88.6 billion of which were in deposits. More than one-third of the bank’s holdings—$38.4 billion—were liquidated a week after the closure.