Chicago – Cohen Financial, a national real estate capital services firm, today announced that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has raised the company’s commercial Special Servicer rating to "Above Average" for its third-party loan servicing and special servicing business. S&P also has affirmed the company’s commercial Primary Servicer "Above Average" rating. Cohen Financial’s loan administration clients include portfolio lenders, such as life insurance companies, banks and pension funds, as well as institutional and opportunistic commercial real estate investors, including hedge funds, private equity firms and high net-worth individuals.
Cohen Financial’s Special Servicer competitive business advantage is its highly customized solutions for private equity funds acquiring distressed pools of commercial real estate loans or originating structured finance transactions (debt and equity) for their balance sheet. The new S&P Special Servicer rating reflects the company’s unique capabilities in this area, as well as Cohen Financial’s successful track record for these clients.
“We are delighted that our Above Average rating for Primary Servicer has been affirmed and our Special Servicer rating was raised,” said Tim Mazzetti, Partner and Executive Vice President of Cohen Financial. “By improving our Special Servicer rating, S&P is validating the challenging work and high touch solutions Cohen Financial offers our institutional clients. These funds look to us to maximize their returns and to deliver strong investment return results, which we have clearly achieved.”
In 2013, Cohen Financial has added more than half a dozen new institutional clients in total for its servicing lines of business and is in advanced discussions with several others looking for the company’s high touch solutions and expertise. Currently, Cohen Financial’s 60 loan administration and valuation professionals manage its more than $6.4 billion dollar total servicing portfolio of more than 2,100 loans from the firm’s Chicago and Leawood, Kansas offices. The portfolio consists of whole loans and REO properties held on balance sheet or securitized in commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) transactions, small-balance commercial and
ADC loans, and construction, bridge, mezzanine, structured debt instruments ranging in size from less than $1 million to over $480 million.
“Improved S&P ratings are great news,” said Jack Cohen, CEO of Cohen Financial. “This strengthens our business as a whole. The above-average ratings reinforce the dedication of our team to provide a best in class solution that meets the changing needs of our clients. We set out several years ago to enhance our servicing platform and have been extremely successful in following through with our goal.”
For more information on the ratings, see S&P’s announcement.
About Cohen Financial
Cohen Financial is a diversified, commercial real estate capital services firm offering debt and equity placement, loan administration and advisory services. The company was named top originator for specialty finance in the MBA 2012 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Firms--Annual Origination Volumes report. Cohen Financial is well recognized as one of the nation's leading loan servicers and special servicers, as well as an originator of commercial and multifamily real estate financing. Known for finding innovative solutions to meet client needs, the company recently launched an Equity Practice to help borrowers complete their capital needs and an enhanced Capital Advisory and Valuation Services to assist financial institutions and investors to better evaluate assets and investment opportunities. Cohen Financial serves clients throughout the U.S. from offices in 10 major markets.