Valley National Bank has sold a diverse pool of $925 million in performing commercial real estate loans to investment giant Brookfield to help reduce its exposure to the sector.
The deal for debt on multiple property types comes as federal banking regulators have sounded alarms on risks for commercial property loans.
While most U.S. banks have remained profitable through the past two years of high interest rates and reduced lending, the Federal Reserve has been carefully monitoring the rise in delinquency rates among certain commercial real estate loans. That includes those backed by offices, especially in major cities, and, more recently, those backed by multifamily housing, Michael Barr, Fed vice chair for supervision, testified before Congress last month.
Northern New Jersey-based Valley National sold the portfolio at a discount of 1% to value, according to the bank. It added that it would take an “immaterial” loss on the sale this quarter, reflecting that 1% discount.
“The sale of this performing commercial real estate loan pool has helped to accelerate progress towards our strategic balance sheet goals,” Ira Robbins, chairman and CEO of Valley National, said in a statement.
The sale at only a 1% discount reflects an investment market eager to acquire debt — and banks are responding in kind, Jared Shaw, a bank equity research analyst for Barclays Capital, told CoStar News in an email.
“We have seen surprising strength in regard to [commercial real estate loan] sales,” Shaw said. “It seems there are plenty of buyers, and the banks that have sold loans or portfolios have been able to do so with limited discounts. This has helped the banks reduce commercial real estate exposure both overall and as a percent of capital and has helped reduce the risk and improve the perception of the group.”
‘Attractive’ investment
Valley National first disclosed it intended to sell a portfolio of such loans on its third-quarter earnings conference call last month. Shaw asked executives then about their ability or desire to sell more.
The bank said it had been watching the loan-buying market for a year and that it reached a point where the 1% discount was “extremely attractive.”
After the call, Shaw wrote in an analyst note that such a sale would help Valley National reach its commercial real estate capital concentration goal of 375% by next year at this time versus 400% in the third quarter.
Valley National did not shut the door on additional sales. In a statement, Brookfield said it hoped to do more deals with the bank.
“Brookfield’s acquisition of Valley’s portfolio of high quality, performing loans is strategic for both parties and demonstrates our ability to step in as an alternative lender to provide creative, flexible capital solutions,” Bill Powell, Brookfield managing partner, said.
Neither Brookfield nor Valley National provided specifics on the portfolio involved in the sale other than that the loans were backed by multiple property types.
As of June 30, Valley National’s commercial real estate loan portfolio totaled $31.4 billion, according to the latest data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The loans made up a little more than half of the bank’s total assets. Less than 1% of its commercial real estate loan holdings were delinquent compared to a national average of 1.37%.