Simon Ziff, Russell Schildkraut, Patrick Hanlon and Jason Krane
President; Principals at Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group
Last year's rank: 37
Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group adapted to the headwinds stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic and still managed to close many transactions as a third-party intermediary.
The firm closed $4.35 billion in deal volume focused on a variety of asset classes. Among its biggest deals were a $900 million financing for Baupost, a multifamily property in San Francisco; and $430.7 million for the US Masters Residential Property Fund, a portfolio of single-family home investments throughout the Northeast.
It also executed a $165 million office financing for Silverstein Properties at 120 Wall Street as well as a $90 million retail deal for Big V Property Group in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Manhattan-based Ackman-Ziff closed a dozen transactions above $100 million during challenging market conditions. While active in all major asset classes, Ackman-Ziff honed in on single-family residences for a large bulk of its business during the pandemic.
“Our diverse national business across markets and asset classes, and creative execution was a big factor in our success,” Simon Ziff said. “We recruited some terrific new talent, as well as repositioned several others, in order to take advantage of new opportunities stemming from this new normal environment.”
The company was also active with diversity initiatives in the past year. It created a summer education program focusing on high school and college students, with a goal of attracting underprivileged and minority young adults. It has also teamed with several organizations that advocate for minorities to help achieve this goal.—A.C.
