Paul Vanderslice

Under Paul Vanderslice’s leadership, BMO Capital Markets is taking a bigger “slice” of the CMBS pie with each year that passes. 

In the year ending March 1, BMO closed $5.4 billion in transactions — comprising $3.6 billion in conduit loans and $1.7 billion in SASB CMBS — compared with $4.4 billion the previous year. B-M-Whoa! 

“The market got bigger so the pie is getting bigger, at least for the past couple of years,” Vanderslice said. “We’re trying to grow as fast as, or faster than, the market. I think you do have to be in the market at all times and as often as you can be to stay relevant.” 

Breaking that down further, BMO was lead or co-lead on 24 conduit transactions and co-lead on eight SASB deals for major sponsors. Several of the platform’s deals included a B note or mezz component. 

Headline-grabbing deals include the $450 million loan for Vornado’s Penn 11 office property in Midtown Manhattan. The 2025-P11 SASB CMBS transaction was co-originated by Citigroup, BMO Capital Markets and Société Générale.

Part of BMO’s strength is its nimbleness, which proves especially handy in constantly changing market conditions, like we’ve all experienced these past couple (well, let’s face it, six) years. 

“This year was very similar to last year in that in 2025 the market started out very strong from January to probably April, then Liberation Day hit. In 2026, things started out very strong in January and February, and then Iran hit,” Vanderslice said. “The difference this year is that investors never stopped investing, and what we generally try to do is stay nimble. We adapt pretty quickly to the market and never really try to market-time. We go to market when we’re ready, and we’re a small enough team that we all communicate pretty well, which is much harder to do if you have a much bigger group.” 

The competition continues to circle coveted deals, but BMO continues to secure the hottest of all. Case in point, the BX Commercial Mortgage Trust 2025-VOLT data center deal, an interest-only, two-year, floating-rate first
mortgage with a principal balance of $3.46 billion. BMO co-originated the loan alongside 10 other banks. 

Another competitive advantage for BMO is the level of transparency its team provides to clients throughout transactions. 

“It’s having that constant communication, whether you’re delivering good news or bad news or neutral news — at least they know where they stand,” Vanderslice said. “And it’s starting to pay dividends. We have a lot of repeat sponsors today.”