He's back.Robert Verrone, the aggressive lender who left in May as head of Wachovia Corp.'s commercial real-estate lending business, is teaming up with hedge-fund firm Scoggin Capital Management LP to set up a fund aimed at buying and making commercial real-estate loans. Scoggin has about $4 billion in assets under management.
Mr. Verrone, known as "Large Loan Verrone" because of his fondness for big deals, helped turn Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia into the largest lender in the business, which also resulted in many new Charlotte condos. Mr. Verrone joined Wachovia in 1995 and transferred to the bank's Manhattan office in 2003 to win more high-valued New York loans.
Mr. Verrone pushed Wachovia into the big leagues of commercial real-estate lending from 2004 to 2007, when building prices soared. However, the push has also proved painful for the bank as it has taken about $1.8 billion in write-downs related to commercial mortgages.
Hedge funds are now eyeing beaten-down commercial real estate, hoping to buy it for a discount. "We're seeing opportunities in the debt market we haven't seen in the last 10 years," Mr. Verrone said.
By: Kris Hudson and Lingling Wei
Wall Street Journal; September 10, 2008
