A majority interest in BWE, a national commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company, is being sold.
Officials announced that Bayview MSR Opportunity (US) Master Fund, a fund managed by Bayview Asset Management, and Springmont Capital, the private investment office of the Morgan family, have agreed to purchase a majority interest in BWE, with Bayview slated to become the majority owner. The Morgan family is the owner of Morgan Properties, one of the nation's largest privately held multifamily real estate companies.
BWE management will remain a minority owner, with CEO DJ Effler continuing to lead the business under its established brand.
“BWE has achieved strong growth in recent years and sought strategic partners who can further strengthen our offerings. Our new partnership positions BWE for long-term expansion and enables us to continue bringing our clients the best capital solutions,” said Effler. “… Our mission remains unchanged: to be the preferred provider of CRE capital to middle and upper middle-market clients across the country—and with new strategically aligned ownership, we’ll have more support to grow and serve our client base.”
The company used to be known as Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital following a 2012 merger of Bellwether Real Estate Capital and Enterprise Community Investment’s multifamily mortgage business.
Shaun Donovan, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, noted the sale of his organization’s stake in BWE, in a LinkedIn post. “The proceeds from this transaction will do something that I believe will be transformative for Enterprise: allow us to begin building an endowment, the kind of permanent, mission-driven financial foundation that the largest and most durable nonprofits rely on to operate with independence and scale. It will also give us more flexibility to focus on our impact at this moment,” he wrote in the post.
BWE remains committed to affordable housing and the growth of the platform, according to Ben Nichols, director of affordable operations at BWE.
“The new owners bring access to capital and structured finance expertise, which will allow BWE to be more creative in helping affordable housing developers and owners build and preserve more units,” he told Affordable Housing Finance. “Affordable deals are getting harder and harder, and we have to be on the cutting edge of delivering creative financing options to our partners.”
The transaction is expected to close in the fall, subject to regulatory and counterparty approvals and other customary closing conditions. Wells Fargo served as exclusive financial adviser to BWE, and White & Case served as legal counsel to BWE. Mayer Brown served as legal adviser to the MSR Fund and Springmont.