Ranieri Real Estate Partners (RREP), New York, has established two new advisory services groups and as part of the initiative signed a definitive agreement to acquire boutique investment banking and advisory firm, Occom Capital Partners, which has offices in New York and Portland, Maine.
Michael D. Coster, currently managing principal at Occom, is set to become president of one of the two new groups upon the completion of the acquisition. Coster would be president of Ranieri Real Estate Advisors at the closing of the deal, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of next year upon receipt of certain regulatory approvals. He would report to RREP co-founder and CEO Jon Vaccaro, one of the company’s three principals.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In addition to forming Ranieri Real Estate Advisors, Ranieri RE Partners also is forming a group to provide analytics to third-party clients called Ranieri Situs Solutions.
“There are fewer firms to support clients’ needs, that is really what is driving the business” demands that led to the creation of Ranieri Real Estate Advisors, said Vaccaro, in a brief interview.
At the same time Ranieri Situs Solutions (RSS) addresses a market need that “really revolves around the financial institutions and their need to risk-manage what’s on their books,” he said.
According to a press release, RSS will provide capital markets expertise and property specific valuation services to commercial real estate debt and equity investors-primarily banks, insurance companies, pension funds and regulators in the United States and Europe. RSS will be led by Debra Huddleston, managing director and head of real estate structured products at RREP and Steve Powel, president, North America at Situs.
Special servicer Helios AMC, an affiliate of RREP, acquired Situs in October.