Alex Cabria

If there’s something we can all agree on, it’s that a lot can happen in four years, good and bad. For SMBC, whose U.S. lending platform was launched in 2021, it’s thankfully all good. 

“When I arrived about four years ago, the bank was just starting to build real estate-specific infrastructure in the Americas,” Alex Cabria said. “We have since grown our real estate lending platform truly from the ground up and have increased our loan book over tenfold with plans for continued expansion. Fortunately, during this time of building, we have made prudent lending decisions and have not had to deal with major legacy issues, which has helped us establish a very competitive position in the market.” 

You can say that again. Cabria’s team originated an eye-popping $18.4 billion in loans in the past 12 months, compared with $11.6 billion for the same period last year.  “We continue to help our borrowers navigate the current rate environment and associated challenges in the greater economy, but the last 12 months have been a period of robust growth for our platform despite these headwinds,” Cabria said. 

SMBC’s transaction activities were broadly driven by direct lending on acquisitions and refinancings, and innovative financing solutions tailored to clients’ evolving needs. In a muted bank lending market, it provided liquidity as well as certainty of execution across multifamily, industrial, data centers and student housing deals in a variety of markets with deals including a $683 million life science construction loan, a $595 million diversified industrial portfolio and a $200 million  student housing deal.

As such, the phone is ringing off the hook at their offices at 277 Park Avenue. 

“We continue to receive many inbounds from clients that I attribute to the goodwill we have earned in the market for stepping up and offering certainty of execution when there was limited liquidity, which is great,” Cabria said. “The plan has always been to make this a large loan shop with institutional borrowers. We love to do large, chunky portfolio deals, and can underwrite those very efficiently within our group.” 

Looking back, “Last year was a little different, because the room didn’t feel as crowded. Today, there are many lenders in the marketplace creating increased competition for high-quality transactions,” Cabria said. “Despite this, we are all dealing with macroeconomic uncertainty, and we’ve yet to see how these challenges will impact different parts of the real estate market.”

In the meantime, SMBC has much to be proud of, and to focus on. 

“I am very proud of the platform we’ve built with various lending products,” Cabria said. “As an example, we’ve been able to step up and supply valuable construction debt to our core clients, which makes me proud because it has helped our borrowers bring some really exciting projects to life. We pride ourselves on servicing our clients’ specific needs, and I’m proud of the feedback we’ve gotten from not only our core clients, but also prospective clients in the market. It’s a validation of our hard work when we get calls saying, ‘Hey, we’re hearing your name and we’re really excited to work with you.’ It’s great to have that recognition.”

It’s well deserved.