Overview
Full Financing Lifecycle. One Integrated Team.
Benesch offers a fully integrated Real Estate Finance & Structured Finance practice that supports clients across the full spectrum of commercial real estate finance transactions, from development and acquisition financing to loan origination, refinancing, capital raising, securitization and secondary market execution.
By bringing real estate finance, structured finance and capital markets capabilities together under one roof, we help clients access capital markets more efficiently, evaluate financing alternatives they may not have previously considered and develop customized solutions across the full capital stack. Our integrated real estate finance and structured finance team works together simultaneously rather than sequentially, providing clients with a seamless experience from origination through execution.
Comprehensive Real Estate Finance Capabilities
Our team represents national and regional banks, debt funds, private equity sponsors, private credit providers, capital providers, mortgage servicers, warehouse lenders, agency investors, institutional investors, owners/operators, bondholders and other market participants across the commercial real estate finance ecosystem in sophisticated transactions nationwide.
Our experience includes:
- Back-leverage
- Bridge lending (including “bridge-to-agency”)
- CMBS
- Co-lending arrangements
- Commercial real estate finance
- Construction lending
- C-PACE financing and facilities
- CRE CLOs
- GNMA, FNMA and Freddi bond transactions
- Healthcare lending
- Institutional lending
- Intercreditor arrangements
- Mezzanine lending
- Note-on-note
- Participations
- Performing and non-performing loan acquisitions and dispositions
- Portfolio and multistate financings
- Preferred equity
- Programmatic loan purchase facilities
- Repurchase facilities
- SASB
- SBA securitization
- Secondary market transactions
- Syndicated lending
- USDA lending and securitization
- Warehouse loan onboarding
- Workout and restructuring matters
We advise clients across all phases of the lending and investment lifecycle, helping them structure, execute and manage complex financing arrangements in evolving market conditions.
Creating New Pathways to Capital
Structured finance is more than an additional service offering. It expands the financing alternatives available to borrowers, lenders, owners and investors, helping unlock opportunities and sources of capital that may not otherwise be apparent.
Our team regularly helps clients identify financing alternatives, access new sources of capital and develop customized financing structures that support long-term growth and investment objectives.
Our structured finance capabilities include:
- CMBS securitizations
- C-PACE securitizations
- CRE CLO transactions (including VFN securitizations)
- Warehouse and repurchase facilities
- Bridge-to-securitization structures
- Asset-backed financing solutions
- Capital markets execution strategies
Pioneers in Variable Funding Note (VFN) Securitizations
Benesch offers sophisticated and highly specialized Variable Funding Note (VFN) securitizations, a form of CRE CLO transaction that our attorneys developed and pioneered.
We represent many of the leading issuers in the VFN securitization market and have been at the forefront of these transactions for more than a decade.
This bespoke securitization technology allows lenders to access capital markets in real time when originating (table-funding) loans, reducing or eliminating the need for warehouse or repurchase facilities prior to securitization. VFN transactions can be rated or unrated, are non-recourse in nature and can be structured across a wide range of asset classes. This specialized capital markets execution allows lenders to match pricing with borrowers at the time of origination and access a lower cost of capital throughout the term of the loan.
We Help Clients:
Industry-Leading C-PACE Financing Experience
Benesch is nationally recognized for its experience in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing, one of the fastest-growing financing tools in commercial real estate. Our team includes esteemed practitioners who have advised on a significant volume of transactions across active C-PACE jurisdictions.
C-PACE financing can:
- Create additional financing flexibility
- Serve as a primary capital source
- Complement traditional debt structures
- Increase available project capital
- Support development and redevelopment initiatives
Our experience in this rapidly evolving area enables clients to evaluate and implement innovative financing strategies that align with both project and investment goals.
