The Japanese investment firm that was a pioneer of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market in the 1990s is reviving the business with the help of high-powered players from Barclays Plc.
Nomura Holdings is reestablishing a U.S. commercial real estate platform after exiting the business nearly three decades ago, the global investment banking firm announced.
It tapped Larry Kravetz as its new head of U.S. commercial real estate and CMBS, and Frank Gilhool as head of U.S. commercial real estate warehouse financing, both of whom worked at rival Barclays.
Gordon Sweely, Nomura Securities’ managing director, told Bloomberg that the move helps fill the CRE lending gap in its securitized products and private credit units.
“This was a gaping hole that we’ve had in our platform over the years,” Sweely told the publication. “The chance to hire talented people and the recent rebound in the commercial real estate market made it a great time to fill the gap.”
Nomura also hired Andy DiPietro, Mike Fedorochko, Adam Scotto and Pete Taylor to the new platform.
Kravetz was leading Barclays’ U.S. CRE financing business, and Gilhool was head of CRE warehouse finance. The duo was part of the Barclays team named 10th in Commercial Observer’s Power Finance list this year, credited for either leading or co-leading 75% of single-asset, single-borrower data center CMBS loans since 2021.
Once the leader in the CMBS business under the guidance of Ethan Penner, now CEO of Mosaic Real Estate Investors and chairman of Reven Office REIT, Nomura exited the CMBS business in 1998 after suffering financial losses during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Penner is often hailed as the father of the CMBS market and, in May, announced plans to run for California’s gubernatorial seat.
Last month, Barclays hired Shaishav Agarwal from Deutsche Bank AG and Guanqing Xiang from Bank of Montreal to beef up its securitized products team, Bloomberg reported.
“Securitized Products remains a key growth focus area for Barclays,” Barclays spokesperson Sofia Rehman told Bloomberg.