Ladder Capital Corp announced the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 13,250,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of $17.00 per share on Wednesday, February 5. Ladder is a major contributor of loans to CMBS issues with $2.2 billion in loan contributions to CMBS issues in 2013, according to Commercial Mortgage Alert (CMA). This ranks the company 12th among the 29 firms that contributed loans to CMBS issues in 2013.
Ladder’s trading debut followed the news that another commercial lender active in CMBS conduit loan origination, Cantor Commercial Real Estate, is planning an IPO. The Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate has hired Deutsche Bank to lead the effort, according to The Wall Street Journal. Cantor Commercial Real Estate contributed $5.3 billion of commercial loans to CMBS issues, according to CMA, ranking the firm 5th among the 29 firms that contributed loans to CMBS issues in 2013.
Early investors in Cantor Commercial, including CIM Group, are looking to sell some of their ownership stakes in the business, according to the Journal. CIM Group invested $350 million and owns 55% of the business, according to a Standard & Poor’s report cited by the Journal. Cantor Fitzgerald owns 11%.