Recent News:
Cozen O’Connor represented Goldman Sachs Bank USA; Bank of America, National Association; and Bank of Montreal in connection with a five-year, fixed-rate CMBS loan with an original principal balance of $450 million.
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Cozen O’Connor leads complex commercial real estate financings and investments on behalf of lenders, investors, and borrowers throughout the United States and Canada. The team handles financings for all classes of real estate assets (multifamily, retail, office, industrial/warehouse, mixed-use, hospitality, and data center) and guides clients through the entire process, designing finance strategies, negotiating and documenting transactions, conducting due diligence, and executing successful closings.
Lenders
The firm represents large commercial banks, regional/community banks, investment banks, mortgage REITs, insurance companies, specialty finance companies, and private equity and opportunity funds.
Well versed in the full range of debt and equity finance tools — commercial mortgages, bridge loans, mezzanine debt and preferred equity, highly structured syndicated and large CMBS loans, ground leases, and construction loans — Cozen O’Connor originates billions of dollars in aggregate loans for middle-market clients and leads blockbuster lending transactions valued above $500 million for large-cap lenders.
In addition to U.S.-based lenders, Cozen O’Connor also represents Canada-based bank and non-bank lenders. Firm attorneys are well known in Canada’s legal and financial marketplace, and the firm has invested in the infrastructure necessary to execute lending transactions north of the border.
The finance team makes full use of the firm’s interdisciplinary depth in tax, construction, environmental, zoning and land use, leasing, and development, and the firm incentivizes cross collaboration among partners and practice groups.
Borrowers
Cozen O’Connor also leverages its real estate finance experience to provide excellent service to ground lessees, fee owners, developers, private equity funds, family offices, REITs, pension funds, and other institutional investors.
Borrower clients rely on Cozen O’Connor’s full-service real estate capabilities, engaging the firm to handle everything from real estate acquisition and site development to the critical and embedded task of obtaining all necessary real estate project financing.
Our attorneys are keenly aware that any successful finance strategy must align with a borrower’s existing operations, obligations, and business plan; the loan must serve the business, not the other way around. We focus on gaining an in-depth understanding of client businesses in order to design a capital stack and negotiate loan terms that will serve them well in the short and long term.
Services
As trusted finance counsel, Cozen O’Connor closely tracks the development of new instruments, regulations, risk exposure, and market norms in order to provide the most current and comprehensive guidance.
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Permanent and bridge financings
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Construction loans
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Loan syndications, participations, and assignments
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Mezzanine and A/B tiered loans
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Preferred equity investments
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Structured capital market financings, including commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), agency loans, single-asset single-borrower (SASB) loans, and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs)
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Ground lease, sale-leaseback, and credit tenant lease financings
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Acquisition and disposition of loans and loan portfolios
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Government-sponsored agency lending, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
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Distressed loan workouts and modifications
Distinction
Top real estate finance attorneys are not only technically adept in their use of complex financial tools, they are also able to build strong working relationships and foster foundational agreements. That work begins with a thorough understanding of our client’s business structure, operations, and goals — and it then extends to deep consideration of the needs and priorities of counterparts. Cozen O’Connor approaches each project with the goal of establishing partnerships that are mutually beneficial and sustainable for all stakeholders because the definition of success in real estate finance is: everybody wins.