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Citibank
reenters commercial real estate lending
New
York--Ten years after it stopped making commercial real estate
loans, Citibank plans to return to the business as early as next
year, according to officials at the bank.
Headed by Deborah Adelman, the Commercial Real Estate Group will
concentrate on permanent financing for large projects, eventually
moving into construction lending, officials said. Citibank has
not yet announced the projected volume of originations from the
new division, though as many as forty loan administrators are
expected to join the group, indicating a high number of transactions.
Citibank's return to commercial real estate lending continues
the company's massive expansion, with some types of loan origination
at the bank nearly tripling in the last three years. In addition,
Citigroup, the bank's parent company, recently acquired Golden
State Bancorp, parent of California Federal Bank (CalFed). The
merger should be completed by year's end, giving the Citigroup
a strong new base in the West.
As part of that acquisition, Citigroup made a pledge to lend and
invest $120 billion for minority and low- and moderate-income
individuals and communities in California through the bank's already
busy Center for Community Development Enterprise (CCDE). CCDE
should make $1.1 billion in loans in 2002, a 25% gain from 2001
with an even higher volume expected for 2003. "We have a
real mandate from senior management to expand all of our markets,
starting in Illinois and Florida, " said Andrew Ditton, director
of CCDE.
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