Clockwise from top left: Patrick Hanlon, Evan Linkner, Jason Krane, and Russell Schildkraut.
Patrick Hanlon, Evan Linkner, Russell Schildkraut and Jason Krane
Principals at Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group
Last year's rank: 34
Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group’s Patrick Hanlon, Evan Linkner, Russell Schildkraut and Jason Krane originated $3.5 billion in loans in 2023, with 65 percent of that business occurring in the multifamily and the single-family rental/build-to-rent (SFR/BTR) sectors.
“We bring capital to owners, so we go where capital is looking, and we are extremely busy in the multifamily sector,” said Schildkraut. “We are the leading broker in the United States for SFR and BTR, but we’re also doing a tremendous amount of multifamily recaps. There’s a tremendous need for that. Housing was very aggressively financed prior to the run-up in rates. We’re finding capital solutions that allow our clients to maintain ownership in those assets.”
While multifamily is its primary success, Schildkraut said that Ackman-Ziff has also had good fortune in the retail and hotel sectors.
“We’ve always had a big retail business,” said Schildkraut. “With the dislocation in the office market, lenders have moved toward retail. Retail survived the internet, it survived COVID; it’s pretty good. So we’re having success in the retail sector.
“And, we always do a fair amount of hotel. A lot of hotel was restructured during COVID, and, if you look at the time frame, that’s going to be coming due this year and next year. So we expect to have a lot of opportunities in hotel.”
Notable Ackman-Ziff transactions last year included a $770 million SFR takedown facility; a $312 million permanent, off-construction multifamily senior and subordinate loan; and a $173 million senior plus subordinate office construction loan.
Ackman-Ziff emphasizes that a significant portion of its time was spent helping clients examine their overall capital structure, corporate structure and succession planning.
“This means looking at their needs and trying to figure out solutions for our clients,” said Schildkraut. “Those solutions could be debt, subordinate debt, debt equity, LP equity. There are many different structures. What’s most important is stepping back on these deals, figuring out what the needs are and how to solve them, and then going out and helping the clients with those solutions.”
