Chris Niederpruem.
Chris Niederpruem
Head of Real Estate Finance at CIT Group
Last year's rank: 45
CIT originated $3.3 billion in balance sheet loans in 2019, up from $2.9 billion the year prior and representing a nearly 47 percent increase since 2016, a rather impressive feat.
The MO of the real estate business has been relatively the same for nearly nine years, according to Chris Niederpruem, who joined from Bank of Ireland in 2011, along with CIT’s former head of real estate, Matt Galligan, to spearhead the build-out of the real estate finance practice you see today.
The balance sheet lender primarily provides senior secured loans and construction debt, occasionally partnering with another financier like in the case of the $163 million debt package CIT and BlackRock originated in March to help fund The Arden Group’s purchase of a 2.1 million-square-foot, 12-property U.S. industrial portfolio; CIT booked a $134.3 million senior secured loan.
And just last month, it provided $35.9 million to a joint venture between Fields Grade Development and Alpine Residential to finance the construction of an apartment building near downtown Stamford, Conn.
“We’ve continued to stay the course and try to support both our existing clients and new prospects that fit [our] strategy,” Niederpruem said. That strategy mostly includes targeting office, multifamily and construction lending opportunities brought forth by its deep roster of existing borrowers.
Last summer, Niederpruem took the helm of CIT Group’s real estate finance division from its former head, Galligan. Niederpruem was alongside Galligan years ago when the latter led a move from Bank of Ireland to CIT Group to build out and maintain a real estate finance operation. Since, then, it has developed into a quiet but steady force in the real estate debt markets.—M.B.
