Walker & Dunlop Enters Multifamily Investment Sales Business Through Acquisition of Engler Financial Group

BETHESDA, Md., April 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) ("the Company") announced today that it has acquired a controlling interest in the investment sales platform of Engler Financial Group, LLC ("Engler"). Engler is an investment advisory and brokerage firm focused exclusively on providing investment sales services to owners of multifamily properties in the southeastern United States. Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales, as the new entity will be known, will expand the platform nationally. From 2012 through 2014, Engler completed $2.2 billion in investment sales through 51 transactions. Since the firm's founding in 2003, Engler has worked on $10 billion of multifamily investment sales transactions. The entire Engler team will join Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales.  Greg Engler, Engler's Founder and CEO, will become Executive Vice President of Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales, and Kris Mikkelsen, Chief Operating Officer of Engler, will become Managing Director and COO of the new entity.

"Greg Engler's leadership and track record speak for themselves. Having Engler as the cornerstone of Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales' platform, with Greg and his team's expertise and leadership spearheading our growth across the nation, is exactly the way we wanted to enter this market,"  stated Walker & Dunlop Chairman and CEO, Willy Walker. "Walker & Dunlop's leadership position in the multifamily finance market, coupled with the existing and future investment sales platform that Engler creates, will bring additional client touch points, revenues, and shareholder value to Walker & Dunlop."

Mr. Engler commented, "One out of every three multifamily financings in America is done by the GSEs, and what better partner to accelerate our growth than Walker & Dunlop, one of the very largest GSE lenders in the nation. I built Engler with a very distinct focus on culture and client relationships, and I am thrilled to join forces with another firm that places the same amount of time and effort on making sure that its clients and people are always front and center. This combination is a tremendous growth opportunity for both firms." 

Beekman Advisors represented Engler in this transaction.

Walker & Dunlop does not expect the transaction to have a material impact on its second quarter financial results but expects the transaction to be accretive in 2015. The acquisition was structured as an asset purchase. Additional details on the transaction will be discussed during the Company's first quarter earnings call, scheduled for May 6th, 8:30 AM Eastern time.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the premier commercial real estate finance companies in the nation. The firm's scaled lending platform provides customers with a comprehensive suite of financing solutions for multifamily and commercial properties located across the United States. Walker & Dunlop has more than 450 professionals with an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction located in 22 offices nationwide.

Forward Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expected synergies and other benefits of our acquisition of certain assets of Engler Financial Group; anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as ''may,'' ''will,'' ''should,'' ''expects,'' ''intends,'' ''plans,'' ''anticipates,'' ''believes,'' ''estimates,'' ''predicts,'' or ''potential'' or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases that are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and that do not relate solely to historical matters. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect our current views about future events and are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed or contemplated in any forward-looking statement.

While forward-looking statements reflect our good faith projections, assumptions and expectations, they are not guarantees of future results. Furthermore, we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes, except as required by applicable law. Factors that could cause our results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: (1) general economic conditions and multifamily and commercial real estate market conditions; (2) regulatory and or legislative changes to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or HUD, including regulatory constraints on their respective multifamily loan origination authority, (3) our ability to retain and attract loan originators and other professionals; (4) our ability to integrate Engler Financial Group's investment sales professionals into our business successfully; and (5) the risk that the economic benefits and other synergies that we anticipate as a result of the acquisition are not fully realized or take longer to realize than expected.

For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or contemplated in any forward-looking statements, see the section titled ''Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our subsequent SEC filings. Such filings are available publically on our Investor Relations web page at www.walkerdunlop.com.

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

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