Northmarq Adds Chinmay Bhatt, Noam Franklin, Cody Kirkpatrick to Investment Platform

Northmarq has added Chinmay Bhatt, Noam Franklin and Cody Kirkpatrick as managing directors of its debt and equity platform, Commercial Observer can first report.  

Bhatt, Franklin and Kirkpatrick come to Northmarq from Berkadia, where they have spent the last six years and closed in excess of 130 transactions carrying $7 billion in capitalization.  

In a statement, Jeff Erxleben, Northmarq president, complimented the trio’s “deep experience” and said the addition of the group “underscores Northmarq’s continued commitment to building a best-in-class capital markets platform.”

“They’ve worked with the most sophisticated investors in the market to deliver complex, tailored capital solutions,” Erxleben added. 

During their time at Berkadia, the trio were a special forces unit that sourced joint venture (JV) equity, platform capital, and structured capital for operators and developers within the residential sector, particularly in multifamily, built-to-rent housing and student housing, where their advisory facilitated the construction of 26,000 units and beds across the U.S.  

Kirkpatrick told CO that over the last three years the lines between debt and equity have become blurred, and that the Northmarq platform allows for the type of growth and scaling the trio’s business model needs to be successful in the current marketplace. Most importantly, the trio will expand out of merely equity capitalizations and into the debt space.

“We’re looking to really provide our clients full-stack solutions as opposed to strictly focusing on the equity side,” said Kirkpatrick. “We’ll always be an equity group, we’ll lead with that, but this platform will help us propel our growth to work more holistically with our clients, and it’s really important for us to work at a firm where we don’t feel boxed in.”

Franklin added that the team is now ready to respond if there’s a need for senior debt, structured capital and mezzanine debt, just as much as it has traditionally served as a conduit for preferred equity, platform capital, JV equity, and co-general partner capital.

“The big thing is not being boxed in here: If our clients need help on sourcing a permanent loan or a construction loan, as well as JV equity and preferred equity, we can do that,” said Franklin. “We’re doing everything at Northmarq to be a one-stop shop for our clients going forward.” 

Both Blatt and Franklin spent two decades of their CRE careers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and during their time at Berkadia they were able to expand their international client base through the firm’s joint relationship with Knight Frank.

“We’ve been in the Middle East, and all parts of Europe, the United Kingdom, Korea, Singapore and Japan,” said Franklin. “So we will continue to make those inroads because when things are volatile, it provides an opening for alternative, or newer, sources of capital to enter the market and help propel our clients’ development aspirations or acquisition goals.” 

Bhatt spoke to the trio’s deep Rolodex of institutional capital sources, but emphasized that the personal relationship aspect of capital sourcing is the X factor for his group’s business model through targeted introductions, high-quality meetings, and expansive dialogues among parties.   

“The reality is we did a lot of overseas capital and brought it into the U.S., and it tends to be more relationship-based and relationship-focused — they want time to get to know the developers and operators,” explained Bhatt. “That’s what’s really created a lot of the successful partnerships we’ve been able to facilitate, and a big part of what we’ll do is that selective relationships work with the overseas groups.”

Last year, the trio raised more than $850 million in total transaction volume equity, with closings across the U.S. 

All three stressed that the goal now at Northmarq is to have fewer clients and go deeper with each of them on the debt and equity side. The group currently works with more than 100 regular groups of investors and equity players. 

Kirkpatrick emphasized that in a dislocated market, high-quality sponsorship is now more important than ever, and that his team is seeing increased scrutiny from investors and capital sources on the track record of operators, which opens the door for the more expansive Northmarq platform to provide clients with capital solutions and matchmaking opportunities. 

“Working on debt opportunities in conjunction with expanding institutional equity relationships helps us to build real credibility with these clients,” said Kirkpatrick. “As the market hopefully starts to thaw a little more, the best and the brightest and most authentic and credible sponsors will be the first to attract new JV relationships.” 

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com