Steven Sperandio and Matthew Shatz are now co-heads of RIPCO’s debt and structured finance group, focused on sourcing debt and equity for the firm’s clients nationally.
The two will be based in Miami, where RIPCO established a new office in April 2021. With investment sales, property management and leasing services already firmly established, RIPCO COO Mark Kaplan described the addition of a debt advisory arm as the fourth and final pillar of our real estate services business adding that the hiring of Sperandio and Shatz puts RIPCO on the same playing field as the industry’s elite capital advisory platforms.
Sperandio and Shatz join RIPCO from B6 Real Estate Advisors, where they most recently served as partner and senior managing director, and managing director, respectively. Both have extensive experience in the South Florida market as well as New York City. They shared that they were drawn to RIPCO because it’s a proven, well-resourced company that has market-leading brokers and a long list of impressive client relationships.
‘Miami Heat’ may apply to the fierce competition for deals in the city today, as well as the basketball team or 90-degree days, but Sperandio and Shatz’s deep New York experience coupled with their established boots on the ground in South Florida gives them a unique competitive edge, they said.
“A lot of capital comes out of New York, and having your feet on the ground here with a company that supports you going back and forth regularly to manage both sides of the business makes it really compelling.”
– Steven Sperandio, Executive Managing Director, Debt and Structured Finance
“We’ve seen a natural matriculation over the last 24 months of not only major companies and personnel, but also capital, as investors are looking to seek yield outside of New York City and move to secondary markets that have high-growth potential, South Florida certainly ticks that bucket.”
– Matthew Shatz, Managing Director, Debt and Structured Finance
As Sperandio and Shatz settle into their new seats, they have active financing mandates already underway, and they’ve also started making inroads with RIPCO’s investment sales and leasing teams. Last year, RIPCO hired top investment sales professional Stephen Preuss as Vice Chairman to head up the brokerage’s new Queens office, as reported by The Real Deal.
“We were thrilled to bring over Stephen and his team, and it really added fuel to our investment sales business. We always were selling properties, but not to the level that Stephen’s team does. It gave us increased credibility in the investment sales space. We’re in this sweet spot where we have few enough brokers that we can have an impact from a management leadership standpoint on every broker, but big enough that we have the resources and the breadth and depth to service our clients and brokers’ needs.”
– Mark Kaplan, COO
Now, if clients have an acquisition to finance, or if a seller decides to refinance rather than sell, RIPCO has the capabilities in-house to assist with those financing needs.
Real the full article in Commercial Observer
