New York-based Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has replaced $298.6 million of commercial mortgage-backed securities debt with a $264.4 million refinancing from Wells Fargo Bank, Citybizlist.com reported. The refinancing maneuver, which comes with expanded capacity of its master repurchase agreement with the lender, will generate about $14 million of additional capital and lower the borrowing cost, said Stuart Rothstein, Apollo’s CFO. Prior to the refinance, Apollo’s term asset-backed securities loan facility borrowing totaled $250.3 million.The new expiration is August 2013. [CityBizList]

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance posted earnings of $3 million, or $0.28 per share, for the first quarter, the company announced yesterday. During the three-month period, Apollo originated three first mortgages worth a combined $86 million and purchased $223 million in legacy commercial mortgage-backed securities. The results represent an improvement for Apollo, which began operations Sept. 29, 2009, and lost $1.72 million in the first three months after its initial public offering. [more]

Crain’s has released its latest list of New York City power players, the top “40 Under 40,” and it comes as no surprise that real estate moguls are sprinkled throughout. Among those of note are Seth Pinsky, president of the city’s Economic Development Corp., who barely made the list at 39 years old, and Alexandra Prosser, 29, a managing director at eEmerge, an office leasing division of commercial real estate giant SL Green Realty. Pinsky, of the EDC, had a hand in some of the city’s most talked about projects of the decade, including the World Trade Center, Atlantic Yards and the new Yankees and Mets stadiums. Also included was Scott Weiner, Apollo Global Real Estate’s 36-year-old principal. After joining the asset manager last year, he started Apollo Commercial Real Estate and recently took the company public. Eugene Schneur, 37, the Omni New York co-founder and managing director, made the list as well. Schneur and his company buy and rehabilitate affordable housing units across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut using low-income tax credits and tax-exempt bond financing. Omni recently made headlines when it bought the mortgage on a distressed 14-building complex in the South Bronx. [Crain's]

Apollo Management has struck a deal to buy Citigroup’s real estate investment arm, Citi Property Investors, effectively tripling the value of Apollo’s real estate assets, according to Bloomberg news. Its purchase of Citi Property will yield 65 real estate investments valued at $3.5 billion for the private equity investment firm. Ironically, it’s this real estate portfolio that Apollo real estate sector head Joseph Azrack helped assemble as Citigroup’s property investment director from 2004 to 2008. Matthew Anderson, a partner at research firm Foresight Analytics, said that Apollo may have brought Citigroup a certain comfort in the deal. “Having it go to Apollo is in a certain sense returning it to the previous management,” Anderson said. Citigroup’s move to sell comes on the heels of mounting pressure from federal officials, who have urged the company to shed some of its assets. The Treasury Department currently maintains a 27 percent ownership of the company.

In the three months since its initial public offering, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance lost $1.72 million, or $0.16, per share, the company reported yesterday. Vornado Realty Trust also posted a $151.2 million net fourth quarter loss, or $0.84 per share. Vornado’s loss represents an improvement over the fourth quarter of 2008, when it took a $227 million hit. Apollo, which began operations Sept. 29, 2009, expects better results in 2010, said Stuart Rothstein, the company’s CFO. “We are well positioned to generate results in 2010 which should reflect net investment income based on the continued deployment of capital and a normalized expense level consistent with a full year of operations,” Rothstein said. TRD

Swig trying to sell loan at Sheffield57

Developer Kent Swig is racing to complete a deal to sell the senior
mezzanine debt at the Sheffield57 condominium to a team led by Fortress
Investment Group, amid a blockbuster derivative lawsuit by his fellow
investors that could affect a final agreement. Under the proposed deal, Guggenheim Structured Real Estate would sell
its debt in the building, which includes a senior mezzanine loan of $76
million, and a junior mortgage loan of about $2 million, sources said. The sources added that Swig and Guggenheim were looking to sell the debt
at 90 cents on the dollar, while most offers were coming in at 60 to 70
cents. The buyers would then foreclose on the note, take over the property,
and pour millions of dollars into the building to complete construction
and cover delinquent payments owed to numerous contractors. “The note’s in default,” said an executive familiar with the
negotiations, “but Guggenheim doesn’t have the [additional] money to
put into the deal that the property needs.” [more]