LNR holding the keys to Wall Street’s distressed debt

LNR, founded by Miami-based home builder Lennar, spent 20 years gambling on
commercial real estate, but is now threatened by a mountain of
distressed Wall Street debt that may be the largest such portfolio anywhere.
LNR has 300 employees in Miami Beach, and manages approximately 25
percent of all of Wall Street’s distressed commercial debt, including
billions of commercial mortgage-bbacked securities. At the end of 2009,
Moody’s issued a warning on LNR’s loan investments — a total of 1,346
loans encompassing $21.8 billion. Stuart Miller, founder of LNR and CEO of
Lennar, owns 20 percent of the company. [Miami Herald]