US-headquartered real estate adviser and loan servicer The Situs Companies has formed a joint venture with German bank HSH Nordbank and special servicer Helios AMC to provide third-party loan servicing and real estate advisory services throughout the Nordic region.
US-headquartered real estate adviser and loan servicer The Situs Companies has formed a joint venture with German bank HSH Nordbank and special servicer Helios AMC to provide third-party loan servicing and real estate advisory services throughout the Nordic region.
Situs Nordic Services (SNS), as the joint venture has been named, will be based in Copenhagen and will initially service HSH's EUR 3 bn real estate loan book. This portfolio is part of HSH's non-core business, which has been transferred to the restructuring unit of HSH Nordbank and will be wound down over the next couple of years. In conjunction with the new joint venture, HSH Nordbank will close its Copenhagen branch by the end of the year.
The loan book spans the spectrum of commercial real estate in Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Baltics.
Situs said SNS will be the first full service third-party commercial real estate loan advisory and servicing business in the Nordics. The company will be staffed with a mix of real estate and banking professionals who will transfer from HSH's Copenhagen offices, supported by both Situs' and Helios' global networks.
'Central to the new venture is HSH's 21-strong former Copenhagen team, led by Peter Lilja and Peter Wallqvist who will provide HSH with valuable continuity of service and SNS with the benefit of their considerable experience and contacts,' said Situs senior director Hugo Raworth, who negotiated the joint venture.
The joint venture deal arose from a relationship developed over 18 months with HSH. 'We were talking about other things and the joint venture came up on the back of those conversations,' Raworth told PropertyEU.
He added: 'Being what I believe is the first commercial loan servicer in the Nordics is an exciting opportunity for us. As the market continues to improve, we hope to provide a range of services to help financial institutions deal with their legacy real estate debt positions and provide support and advice for new origination.'
Helios is partly owned by Deutsche Bank which will likely also source services from the new joint company, Raworth said. 'It goes without saying that Deutsche Bank will probably utilise the platform and we will be seeking to market the joint venture's services to the bank.' Raworth stressed, however, that Deutsche Bank itself is not part of the joint venture.
The deal does not necessarily herald similar joint ventures with HSH or other banks in other parts of Europe. But Situs is eager to build up a broad pan-European presence. ‘We are entrepreneurial in outlook and one of the benefits of being a private company is that we don’t have to stick to straight forward outsourcing agreements. If there was another opportunity of a similar nature that worked commercially we would look at it,' Raworth said.
Situs provides real estate asset and finance advisory services to financial institutions, institutional and private equity investors, developers and governments. Since 2004, it has advised on European real estate and debt valued at over EUR 40 bn.
