Stephen Pearlman

In a move to add to its bench strength and take advantage of an improving hotel financing market, venerable brokerage firm Molinaro Koger has hired Stephen Pearlman as managing director of its capital markets group.

Pearlman will be based in the firm’s New York office, where he will focus on both the domestic and international capital markets along with the firm’s two other senior financing experts, vice presidents Pierre Ranjeva and Randy Gray.

Throughout his nearly 30-year real estate career, Pearlman has completed more than $8 billion in financing transactions. He has advised institutional, corporate and individual real estate owners in the structuring and execution of asset sales, note sales, sale-leasebacks, financing and other capital markets transactions. Pearlman also has experience raising debt and equity in a variety of structures, handling loan portfolios and workouts and restructuring.

“As the global hotel real estate industry gains traction, financing will be the key component to move from recovery mode to fueling growth, be it balance sheet re-capitalization, construction/renovation and acquisition financing or refinancing,” says Robert Koger, president of Molinaro Koger. The Washington, D.C.-based firm has transacted more than $12 billion in hotel real estate sales globally since its inception in 1959.  

“Hotel financing has become increasingly complex,” adds Koger. “Sourcing and makeup of the capital stack is constantly changing, and we will remain on the cutting edge.”

Molinaro Koger has expertise in the entire capital raise process — from executing sponsor requirements to negotiating terms and covenants to helping close debt or equity transactions on single assets and multi-national hotel portfolios.

Through the course of his career, Pearlman has worked in all areas of finance with some of the hotel industry’s most prestigious firms. Prior to joining Molinaro Koger, he was senior managing director at Beacon Hospitality Partners, a global hospitality asset management, advisory and transactional practice.

Previously, Pearlman was a director at Houlihan Lokey, an international advisory-focused investment bank, where he was a member of the corporate finance department and a member of the real estate lodging and leisure group.

Pearlman’s long real estate career also includes senior management positions with HI Group LLC, Jones Lang LaSalle and Manufacturers Hanover Trust. He even served in various finance roles for the Trammell Crow Co.

Pearlman holds an MBA from The City University of New York’s Bernard Baruch College and a bachelor’s degree from Alfred University.  A licensed real estate broker and NASD broker/dealer, Pearlman is an adjunct professor at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Molinaro Koger advises on transactions for premium-branded and independent hotels and resorts in the luxury, upper-upscale, and mid-scale segments in North America, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, India and China. During the past decade, the firm has closed, on average, more than 75 hotel transactions a year.