Mission Capital’s Debt and Equity Team Moving to Marcus & Millichap: Sources
By Mack Burke September 23, 2020 10:23 pm
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Marcus & Millichap (MMI) is in the process of hiring Mission Capital Advisors’ debt and equity team “pretty much in its entirety,” sources close to the situation told Commercial Observer.
The team is led by Jordan Ray, who is based out of Los Angeles, along with Jonathan More and Alex Draganiuk, and includes several others. Sources said that around 10 professionals are moving over to Marcus & Millichap.
In July, sources told Commercial Observer that Marcus & Millichap was in the process of acquiring Mission Capital outright, but the status of that deal — and whether the debt experts’ hiring is one part of it — is unclear, sources said.
“I don’t know what the status of the sale is, but whatever is left of the finance group at Mission is being brought over to Marcus & Millichap this week,” one source told CO on the condition of anonymity.
A spokesperson for Marcus & Millichap said they couldn’t confirm or deny the information CO learned about the transition. David Tobin, CEO and founder of Mission Capital, did not return multiple requests for comment, nor did Ray. Draganiuk couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. More, who was reached by phone, declined to comment.
According to sources who spoke with CO in July, Marcus & Millichap’s interest in acquiring Mission — a global company that’s been around for nearly two decades — was driven by the two firms seeing synergies between their debt placement and loan sales businesses. In addition to having an active debt placement business, Mission’s robust loan sales platform encompasses both performing and non-performing debt portfolios as well as property sales.
In 2019, Evan Denner, a former executive and advisor to the partners at Ackman-Ziff, left the firm to move to Marcus & Milllichap to spearhead the acquisition of Mission Capital, sources said. Denner took over as senior vice president of corporate strategy at Marcus & Millichap, where he assists in executing the firm’s growth strategy, including through “the acquisition of synergistic companies and groups,” as per his bio on Marcus & Millichap’s website. Denner was unable to be reached.
But several sources said the status of the broader acquisition is now unclear, possibly due to many of Mission’s top loan sales professionals recently leaving the company.
Just this week it was reported that industry vet Michael Britvan moved to Hodges Ward Elliott to lead its loan sale advisory business. An expert in the space, Britvan oversaw Mission’s loan sale platform in both the U.S. and Latin America for 11 years.
Loan sales professionals Will Sledge — who’d been with the firm for 17 years — and Kyle Kaminski also left Mission in June for new roles at JLL (JLL), as reported by Commercial Real Estate Direct. Luis Vergara, who focused on residential loan sales, left in October 2019 for a role at HouseCanary.
On the debt side, managing director Ari Hirt left last summer to join debt and equity brokerage powerhouses Aaron Appel, Keith Kurland and Jonathan and Adam Schwartz at their newly formed operation, AKS Capital Partners. Hirt then joined them in their move to real estate financier Walker & Dunlop in February, following AKS’ sale to CEO Willy Walker’s firm.
Mission also saw the departure of principal Stephen Emery in June 2019, who had been with the company for more than 17 years. Emery currently serves as a partner and board member at online commercial real estate investing platform EquityMultiple, which was seed funded by Mission, as well as at Supergoop!, a skincare and sunscreen brand. Jordan Ray is co-founder and board member of EquityMultiple.
Whether or not the full sale of Mission to Marcus & Millichap ultimately goes ahead is unclear, but “that’s not the focus right now,” one source said. “The first thing is getting Mission’s finance team moved over to Marcus.”
Disclaimer: Commercial Observer’s finance editor worked for Mission Capital very briefly in 2016.
