Loan Marketplace Heats Up with Recent Closings

Business Wire, June 25, 2002

Business Editors

BankXchange (tm), the new loan-trading marketplace established by Bridger Commercial Funding, has just closed two more commercial real estate loan sales totaling $7.8 million, the company announced today. In both instances, the loans sold within 10 days, and for above-par prices. One bank sold a $5.8 million loan secured by a performing multifamily property to alleviate a borrower concentration issue, enabling further lending to a prime customer. A community bank sold the second loan, a participation in a new $2 million office loan, because the loan amount exceeded the bank's lending limit.

"We've sold portfolios of loans in a matter of a few weeks," said Paul O'Rear, Vice President and Manager of Business Development. "But these individual loans sold in a matter of days. Our extensive relationships throughout the U.S. banking industry are a key reason we're able to make transactions happen so quickly. Plus, the BankXchange technology platform at BridgerFunding.com delivers excellent due diligence and pricing tools. The technology enables Bridger to track loan buyer criteria throughout our network of over 850 banking relationships, allowing us to rapidly identify high probability bidders," O'Rear stated.

BankXchange was established in 2001. Its success to date is widely attributed to the unique confluence of online loan analytics (BX LoanAnalyzer (tm)) with Bridger's widespread banking industry relationships. "Sellers are delighted with the prices achieved and buyers are happy to find quality assets as the market is extremely competitive today," said Peter Grabell, Senior Vice President of Relationship Management. "Interestingly, as BankXchange evolves, our clients are asking us to offer loans secured by asset classes other than commercial real estate. This suggests that our execution is adding value to our clients' balance sheet management strategies," he added.

Bridger Commercial Funding is the leading commercial real estate capital markets resource serving the U.S. banking industry, with over 850 bank relationships nationwide. Bridger's innovative products and technology applications help banks maximize their risk-adjusted returns by accessing the secondary mortgage market. Bridger's commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan origination program enables banks to boost financial performance by generating substantial fee income while retaining and enhancing borrower relationships. In addition, Bridger's BankXchange (tm) program optimizes banks' loan portfolio risk profiles and returns by facilitating purchases and sales of loan portfolios, whole loans and participations. Through a growing network of over 3,100 commercial loan officers nationwide, Bridger is commercial real estate banking's premier provider of secondary market origination and trading solutions.