US-based real estate company CIM Group is expanding its $10 billion Real Estate Debt Solutions platform to Europe.
The company’s credit platform plans to invest in whole loans and core mezzanine loans across the U.K. and key Western European countries.
CIM Group is targeting loan sizes of between £75 million and £200 million for whole loans and between £20 million and £50 million for core mezzanine loans, which will initially be made under the firm’s existing fund mandates. The European credit strategy expects to expand to also include ground-up development financings in the future.
CIM Group established a London office in 2021. The firm is currently adding to its local credit team, which will be supported by more than 30 credit professionals based in the U.S.
CIM Group seeks to capitalize on the opportunity in Europe, where more than €150 billion of debt across European property firms is estimated to mature by 2025 and the availability of capital from traditional bank sources is more difficult to obtain in light of market conditions as well as regulatory requirements. The company intends on working with European borrowers to bridge this funding gap by providing flexible capital.
CIM Group entered the Western European real estate market in October 2021 with the acquisition of Cathedral Square, a three-building office campus in Guildford, United Kingdom.
“CIM Group’s vertically-integrated platform with experience across market cycles gives us an advantage as we enter the European private real estate credit market and allocate existing capital from our $10 billion lending platform,” said Richard Ressler, Co-Founder and Principal of CIM Group.
“We are already leveraging our strong sponsor relationships as well as in-house expertise across development, leasing, property management and capital markets to underwrite business and development plans for high-quality assets in key European markets, and our growing European team is already evaluating opportunities to meet the demand for private debt capital in this attractive region.”
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