David Bouton and Joseph Dyckman

Joseph Dyckman’s father wanted his children to be in the medical profession. Dyckman’s brother is a psychiatrist, but Joe is also an M.D. of a different kind.

Still, in both instances, the “doctor was in” this past year, as both Dyckman, and his co-head of CMBS at Citigroup, David Bouton, played self-styled “market psychologists” in addition to their extensive scope of client services. 

“Two big things that separate us from competitors is consistency — we do this year in and year out — and we always try to be transparent,” Dyckman said. “A big part of our year was helping clients navigate market conditions. We didn’t always tell them what they wanted to hear, but it’s what led to us consistently doing deals with the same customers year in and year out.” 

Playing tough-love therapists was only a small part of the Citigroup team’s impressive year, however. The firm led the CMBS league tables across the board, and the strength and breadth of its platform placed it in good stead to ride the market highs and lows. The team offered a broad spectrum of products, from conduit and SASB CMBS to balance sheet loans and financial advisory services. Further, it originated debt across all sectors — even office — making sure that no client was left behind. 

“We’re not a fair weather friend,” Bouton said. “The bank has stuck by its clients throughout credit cycles, and will continue to do so.” 

Citigroup was the lead bookrunner and loan contributor in the U.S. CMBS market in 2023, bookrunning roughly $36 billion across all capital markets segments, and a further $16.5 billion in real estate corporate financing in the year ending March 1, 2024. 

It was also the leading issuer in both conduit and SASB CMBS, the No. 1 CMBS loan contributor for the fifth year in a row in 2023, and took the top spot in all CMBS categories, including U.S. bookrunner, U.S. loan contributor, global CMBS bookrunner, and global CMBS lead and co-manager. In the past year, Citi co-led 15 of 27 conduit deals representing 56 percent of total conduit issuance and also co-led 47 percent of SASB deals by volume. Phew! 

“We’re especially proud, because it’s the fifth year in a row that we led the league tables with respect to CMBS,” Dyckman said. “We provided our clients with securitized and balance sheet loans, and we gave them liquidity — both with respect to loan extensions, but also by providing liquidity for new opportunities.”

In the fourth quarter, Citi reopened the SASB market as left lead bookrunner on the BX 2023-XL3 transaction, leading to a series of executions totaling $4.85 billion.

“We weren’t saddled by a lot of problems last year, and that allowed us to go on offense,”  Bouton said. “We built client share and, when others were retreating or being difficult, we tried to do the opposite. It worked to our benefit, because you have to create new playbooks and think about things a little differently in tough markets.” 

As we move through the second quarter, the Citi team is already seeing a “tremendous amount of requests” for fixed-rate financing, Dyckman said. “It’s almost hard to keep up. I think it’s going to be a very busy year.”

The “Citi MDs” are currently accepting new patients— err, clients, writing prescriptions, and ready to help.