Paul Vanderslice
Head of CMBS at BMO Capital Markets
Sometimes, a new platform takes a big “Slice” of the pie straight out the gate.
When Paul Vanderslice joined BMO Capital Markets in September 2020, he meant business.
The industry veteran left his position as CEO of CCRE to organize the formation of BMO’s new commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) platform, armed with more than three decades of industry experience. A household name within commercial real estate finance circles, Vanderslice previously spent more than 30 years at Citigroup, building out the megabank’s successful CMBS business.
BMO Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Bank of Montreal, officially entered the CMBS market in the first quarter of 2021. Since then it has completed 28 CMBS transactions totaling $5.9 billion. Twenty-three of those transactions were single-asset, single-borrower (SASB) deals, and five were conduit deals, including BMO 2022-C1, which priced in February, debuting BMO’s newly formed shelf: BMO Commercial Mortgage Securities.
Not shying away from New York office, which has struggled with vacancy during the pandemic, BMO in March 2021 teamed up with Citigroup and Bank of America Securities as co-lead managers and joint book runners on the $350 million refinance of Vornado Realty Trust’s office tower at 909 Third Avenue. In August, it provided a $215 million, five-year CMBS refinance for Bobby Zar’s ZG Capital Partners 1450 Broadway, which had a SASB execution.
Since Vanderslice took the reins, the CMBS group has grown to 15 members — with an average of 17 years of industry experience — including Michael Birajiclian, David Schell, Andrew Noonan and Matt Jacobs. Alex Smith- Constantine runs its CMBS syndicate desk
And there’s no signs of the team’s activity slowing any time soon. Despite plenty of market volatility in the first quarter of 2022, BMO has already executed 13 deals totaling $3.2 billion. Any way you Slice it, that’s not too shabby. —C.C.
