Cushman & Wakefield and Greystone, fresh off forming a partnership late last year, hired a multifamily capital markets team from rival CBRE in Denver.
The joint venture between Cushman & Wakefield and Greystone Servicing Co. hired the equity, debt and structured financing team led by Craig Branton this month. In addition to Branton, Chris Bourgeois and Brett Brown also moved from CBRE to Cushman & Wakefield and Greystone.
Cushman & Wakefield said the finance brokerage team would work in a dual capacity at both firms and focus on originating multifamily loans and providing financing options for commercial real estate investors and owners. The team also plans to help expand the partnership between the firms.
In late 2021, Cushman & Wakefield closed its deal to pay $500 million for a 40% stake in New York City-based Greystone's multifamily agency lending and servicing and Federal Housing Administration lines of business.
Chicago-based Cushman & Wakefield said the joint venture would give its clients more direct access to debt products to buy, refinance, and build and refurbish apartment properties.
The addition of Branton, Bourgeois and Brown fits into those plans, signaling where the venture is setting its sights.
Branton has experience in multifamily finance and has worked with industrial, retail, office, self-storage and parking properties.
At CBRE, he ranked as one of its top national producers in lending. Before he worked at CBRE, Branton served as a principal with Terrix Financial in Denver.
"This new team in Denver represents a key milestone in the growth of our joint effort with Cushman & Wakefield to provide a range of capital markets solutions to property investors, particularly in a core market where we can add value in the multifamily sector,” Chip Hudson, executive vice president and head of Greystone’s agency lending platform, said in a statement on the move.
And Branton added that he and his team made the move because the joint venture would "provide our clients with direct access to Greystone’s agency lending products and will also allow for equity and debt originations through life insurance companies, debt funds, regional and national banks and credit unions, and CMBS lenders.”