Felix Gutnikov

Thorofare Capital continued to stay active as a lender during the past year with a proactive strategy implemented soon after the reality of a rising interest rate environment took hold.

In September 2022, when a number of other lenders stepped back as borrowing costs skyrocketed, Thorofare stepped forward with a carefully crafted strategy targeting opportunistic deals in multifamily, self-storage and the industrial sectors. 

“We looked at the world from the lens of a long-term perspective and we decided that we should pivot and focus on more recession-
resilient property types,” said Felix Gutnikov, who arrived at Los Angeles-based Thorofare in 2011. “We had a more contrarian outlook in that we should remain active, continue to invest our capital into high-quality loans, and use this opportunity to establish new relationships with borrowers that we previously could not have caught the attention of.”

The strategy paid off with Thorofare achieving $636.4 million of lending volume for 2022 across 23 transactions. In 2023, against the backdrop of even higher borrowing costs, the lender has executed $317 million through 11 loans year-to-date. That lending volume is projected to grow to $443 million by mid-October. Thorofare now has a portfolio of roughly $1.3 billion in loans outstanding, underscoring the large-scale growth since Gutnikov arrived and the company had less than $100 million in assets under management. 

Thorofare’s aggressive lending strategy in late 2022 was aided by its merger the previous year with Boston-based Callodine Group, a $20.5 billion asset management platform with more than $2 billion of alternative investments. 

“I think it was good timing that we entered into that transaction at the end of 2021 because that further bolsters our resources and our platform and our reach,” Gutnikov said. “We have a lot of dry powder and will continue to be active for the rest of this year, and, going into 2024, we will have our flashlights on.”