PCCP and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) Form New Venture to Originate Senior Commercial Mortgages

 SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Aug. 16, 2010 - PCCP, LLC and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System have teamed up to form a new venture that will originate first mortgages. The venture will take advantage of the lack of liquidity in the floating-rate commercial mortgage debt space.

According to Don Kuemmeler (top right photo), founding partner of PCCP, “The great recession has reduced the number of skilled, entrepreneurial lenders who understand fundamental real estate value and who make and hold commercial real estate mortgages on their balance sheets.

"The PCCP and OPERS venture intends to offer a shorter-term, flexible first mortgage product for owners with a value-added business plan. We expect to hold these loans to maturity, and service our customers with creative solutions, as PCCP has done over the past 12 years.”

The venture will leverage PCCP’s team of seasoned investment professionals and established lending platform which has originated in excess of $3.5 billion of floating-rate loans over the past 12 years.

With a national focus, the venture will make loans secured by all major asset types (office, multifamily, retail, industrial and hospitality).

“We are excited to be teamed up with the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. OPERS recognized a need in the market, and we expect to have many opportunities to make excellent investments in the coming year,” said Adam Zoger, a principal in PCCP’s San Francisco office.

 PCCP, LLC is a premier real estate private equity firm focused on commercial real estate debt and equity investments. PCCP has over $6 billion under management in multiple closed-end funds and joint ventures with institutional investors.

With 33 investment professionals and 50 employees across four offices located in New York, San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles, PCCP invests throughout the United States. Learn more about PCCP at www.pccpllc.com.

With assets of $68.3 billion, OPERS is the largest public pension fund in Ohio and the 12th largest public pension fund in the U.S.

Contact: Darcie Giacchetto, Spaulding Thompson & Associates, Inc., 949-278-6224