Ladder Capital Establishes Capital Markets / M&A Group with Addition of Thomas M. Harney & Summer Nemeth & Assets Under Management Top $2.5 Billion

NEW YORK, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Ladder Capital Finance Holdings LLC ("Ladder Capital"), a New York-based commercial real estate specialty finance company, today announced the appointment of real estate veteran Thomas M. Harney as Head of Merchant Banking & Capital Markets to lead Ladder Capital's newly-created Capital Markets / M&A Group.  With more than 25 years of experience in real estate and capital markets, including serving as Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Real Estate Investment Banking at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Mr. Harney has completed over $70 billion in real estate M&A and capital markets transactions during the span of his career.  Mr. Harney will be joined by Summer Nemeth, who has been appointed as a Director of Capital Markets for the new Capital Markets / M&A Group.  Ms. Nemeth worked extensively with Mr. Harney at Bear Stearns before receiving her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Brian Harris, Chief Executive Officer of Ladder Capital, noted, "We are very pleased to have Tom and Summer join us to formalize and lead the expansion of our Capital Markets and M&A activities.  We believe they'll be a great enhancement to our successful core lending and investing operations, which now have assets under management of more than $2.5 billion.  We expect that adding these two seasoned professionals will allow us to more fully explore a wide range of Capital Markets and strategic M&A alternatives available to us to prudently expand our direct in-house origination platform with world-class institutional partners."

Mr. Harney joins Ladder Capital after serving as Head of Real Estate at Tri-Artisan Capital Partners, a New York-based private Merchant Banking group.  Prior to joining Tri-Artisan, he spent over eleven years at Bear Stearns, where he led several high profile transactions including the merger of Starwood Financial and TriNet Corporate Realty Trust to form iStar Financial; the merger of Lexington Realty Trust and Newkirk; the sale of National Government Properties to Rubicon America Trust; and several large-scale capital markets transactions involving Boca Resorts, Essex Property Trust, CBL & Associates and other leading real estate companies.  In late 2009 Mr. Harney acted as sole advisor in the acquisition of Crescent Real Estate by affiliates of Goff Capital Inc. and Barclays Capital.

Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Mr. Harney served in various senior investment banking and principal investment roles at firms including Merrill Lynch and BT Securities. He started his career in 1983 at Olympia & York Properties and has successfully invested in both distressed debt and opportunistic equity in past market downturns. In addition, Mr. Harney benefits from his hands-on experience in acquiring, managing, leasing, financing, and selling direct property holdings and portfolios.

Mr. Harney received a B.A. (magna cum laude) in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of NYU's Real Estate Finance and Development program.

Summer Nemeth joins Ladder Capital after completing an MBA at Harvard Business School.  Ms. Nemeth started her investment banking career at Bear Stearns with Mr. Harney, where she worked as an analyst in the Global Industries Group.  At Bear Stearns, Ms. Nemeth worked on 12 transactions involving over $2.6 billion, including mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies, asset sales, equity financing, high yield financing and bank financing.  Following her tenure at Bear Stearns, Ms. Nemeth joined JF Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank serving the hospitality industry, as a Vice President, where she completed debt, follow-on equity, asset acquisition and going-private transactions totaling over $1.5 billion.  Summer received a B.S. in Economics and Computer Science with highest distinction from the University of Michigan.

About Ladder Capital

Ladder Capital is a specialty finance company that provides a comprehensive set of financing solutions to the commercial real estate industry. Through a fully integrated platform, Ladder Capital originates and invests in a diverse portfolio of real estate-related assets. Ladder Capital is comprised of an experienced team of senior managers, the core of whom have worked together previously in the commercial real estate industry, originating, underwriting, acquiring, structuring, managing and securitizing a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate mortgages, real estate and real estate-related assets through various economic cycles and market conditions. Ladder Capital is led by Brian Harris, the company's Chief Executive Officer.

SOURCE Ladder Capital Finance Holdings LLC