PPM America (“PPM”) announced the addition of a new managing director, Mark Kramer, who joins the firm’s 33-member commercial real estate team, which includes employees of PPM as well as PPM’s affiliate, PPM Finance, Inc. (“PPM Finance”). Based in Chicago, Kramerjoins from BlackRock, Inc. and brings 18 years of real estate investment expertise in mezzanine loans, stretch senior loans, deal structuring and fund raising.
Founded in 1995, the commercial real estate team manages $8.06 billion in commercial mortgage lending assets, in addition to $2.7 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities and $2.58 billion in REIT debt (as of June 30, 2018).
“Mark will serve as an important addition to our team as we continue to augment our commercial real estate capabilities which have historically focused on investments in senior loans,” said Kent Born, senior managing director and head of commercial real estate. “Mark joins us at a pivotal time as we continue our expansion plans to extend the firm’s offerings to institutional investors in the U.S. Mark’s experience at BlackRock allows us to expand our commercial mortgage lending platform into higher yielding debt, including bridge loans and mezzanine loans. We look forward to having him join our team and are confident that his experience will strengthen our presence in the commercial real estate space.”
Prior to joining the commercial real estate team, Kramer was director of the commercial real estate debt group at BlackRock, Inc. and was responsible for the sourcing, transaction management, credit analysis, closing of high yield debt investments and all aspects of deal origination. Previously, he was a lead analyst for Merrill Lynch’s global markets and investment banking division with a focus on commercial mortgage-backed securities. Kramer earned a master’s degree in finance from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree in diplomatic history from the University of Pennsylvania.
“PPM Finance has a great reputation in commercial real estate finance; I am very excited to join Kent and a seasoned team of industry professionals,” Kramer said. “Working together, I am confident that we will leverage the platform’s long-standing track record into higher yielding investments, including stretch senior loans and subordinate debt.”
