Mike Lavipour

What’s been the biggest highlight and biggest challenge of 2025 for your team thus far?

The biggest highlights of 2025 have been sustained investor appetite for credit products (given market conditions); accelerated deployment across products; increased competition on the senior funding side, enhancing returns; and a rebound in recovery for better-quality office assets. The biggest struggles have been enhanced competition for loan products, and continued struggles for lesser-quality office assets. 

Which lending opportunities that didn’t exist last year are you grabbing today?

The opportunity set has been fairly consistent year-over-year, there is just more of it in 2025. Largely it has been recaps of 2021 vintage acquisitions or 2021 vintage developments in the asset classes in favor (residential and industrial) coupled with new developments that are more frequently financed by nonbank lenders. The one major addition to the pipeline has been office-to-residential conversions. 

As a nonbank, what’s your competitive advantage over banks today? 

Many of today’s financings require more leverage than banks are willing to provide — but banks do have liquidity, and there is increased support/diversity for the senior financing on our loans. Flexibility also tends to be a competitive advantage over banks. 

Tell us about your new partnership with Axonic Capital to fund mid-market self-storage, industrial and multifamily projects. Why is now the right time to launch this venture? 

We have a long-standing relationship with Axonic that spans other aspects of real estate.  Construction lending is inefficient for banks (bad risk-based capital treatment and return on equity), and mid-market construction lending is challenging for debt funds that need leverage (hold size becomes too small); notwithstanding the fact that the credits are really strong — banks have broadly not lost money on construction lending. Insurance rarely participated in this segment before as there has always been a lot of focus on asset/liability matching, notwithstanding the fact that construction loans actually have good risk-based capital charges for insurance companies. With elevated rates and increased annuity sales, there is less of a focus on matching across the board and more of a focus on getting invested. Most insurance companies don’t have the origination staffs or long-standing expertise to asset-manage construction loans.

We had a nice gap in our product mix (our funds focus on larger deals) and so the fairway was open for us to put money out in a capital-efficient way for Axonic on lower-risk transactions that earn higher interest margins, in a market where it is tough to find yield. The stars all aligned. 

New trends you’re seeing in capital stacks or deal structures today? 

Yes — a lot of capital for preferred equity and not a lot of capital for common equity. Most market participants are still not sure about values, and so many are taking a non-last-dollar risk approach. More and more of the deals we finance have some element of preferred equity. 

Lighting Round:

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” or “The Morning Show”?

“The Morning Show.”

Biggest moment of 2025: TSwift’s engagement or Fed rate cuts?

Fed rate cuts. 

Data centers: Been there done that, or Gimme more?

Much more, please.

Where will rates be one year from now?

Lower. 

Friend, unfriend, block: Office, retail, hospitality?

Friend (retail), unfriend (hospitality), block (office).

How do you shake off market stress?

Exercise or a martini, depends on the stress level.

NFL or college football?

NFL.

What song would be the theme tune of your life?

I’d like to say “Eye of the Tiger” but realistically more like “Stayin’ Alive.” 

Ultimate dinner party: Pick three guests?

Childhood and college friends, any subset. 

Thanksgiving: Chef or spectator/taster?

Spectator/taster and football game organizer. 

Holiday wish?

Just a little downtime.