Abbe Franchot-Borok

With fewer than three years under its belt, the real estate debt team at BGO isn’t letting market volatility get in its way.

In 2023 and the beginning of 2024, BGO’s U.S. debt team — spearheaded by Abbe Franchot Borok — further developed its platform and built its market share. Despite uncertainty in capital markets, the real estate investment firm carved out lending opportunities across sectors — and has the numbers to prove it.

To date, BGO’s U.S. debt platform has originated $4.5 billion assets under management. In total, the company’s equity in the United States amounts to roughly $40 billion. That overarching equity presence is helping drive business on the debt side. 

Specifically, cold-storage transactions are heating up. The sector — alongside residential and industrial — comprises about 75 percent of BGO’s debt portfolio.

“We like the cold-storage space because it’s a subsector of logistics that has obviously been a very hot sector throughout the cycle, but really continues to benefit from digitization and technology, ” said Borok, who singled out the growth of online grocery shopping as a cause. BGO recently structured financing for cold-storage assets in both Florida and Texas. 

Given the debt team’s expertise — members of Borok’s team have been lending for decades, despite the relatively new nature of the U.S. debt platform — BGO has been efficient in closing and underwriting loans, whether in cold-storage or industrial. “Certain and efficient execution has really benefited us,” said Borok.

In line with the momentum BGO’s debt platform has generated thus far, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that Borok considers the future with cautious optimism. Come the second half of 2024, she predicts transaction activity and volume will accelerate. “We’re seeing some of that in our pipeline,” she said.