Newport Beach-based distressed-debt specialist Sabal Financial Group LP has acquired portfolios with more than $500 million in loans in separate deals with the federal government and a private bank.
Sabal acquired a $385 million portfolio of performing and nonperforming loans from the Washington, D.C.-based Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
“This is our third FDIC transaction, and it brings our total assets under management to approximately $3 billion,” Chief Executive Pat Jackson said.
The portfolio consists of acquisition, development and construction loans tied to 507 commercial and residential properties.
Loans
The loans came from 42 recently failed banks throughout the U.S.
A large percentage of the bundle includes properties in the Southeast and Midwest, many of which are tied to undeveloped land.
Most came from banks that failed while developers were building properties, according to Jackson.
“When you’re buying a portfolio with 500 loans on it, you try to get as granular as you can,” he said. “But we don’t have that much flexibility with the FDIC. You get the good and the bad, the problem loans with the good ones.”
Sabal also purchased distressed debt in a $142 million loan portfolio from Bend, Ore.-based Bank of the Cascades.
“It’s an important business for us to buy directly from banks that are cleaning up the balance sheet,” Jackson said.
The portfolio from Bank of the Cascades includes 171 performing and nonperforming loans, most of them secured by retail, office and industrial properties in Oregon and Idaho.
Sabal bought both portfolios at a discount, terms of which were not immediately available.
More Deals
Jackson said the company expects to do more deals of a similar nature.
“We continue to see a robust pipeline for this type of asset,” he said.
Sabal specializes in the acquisition and valuation of real estate loan portfolios, with a concentration on commercial loans and commercial and residential acquisition, development and construction loans.
“We’re really, ultimately, in the real estate business,” Jackson said.
Once Sabal acquires the portfolios, the company manages them depending on the circumstances of each loan, Jackson said.
The firm could work with performing loans that remain in good standing. It also could pursue a discount or work out foreclosure.
“It’s hard to make generalities,” he said.
Insight
Sabal’s recent acquisitions provide insight into what’s happening in the banking industry, according to Jackson.
“There is a strong desire among banks to clear out assets that are weighing them down,” he said.
