RBC Launches U.S. Real Estate Mortgage Capital Business

RBC Capital Markets has launched a U.S. real estate mortgage capital unit and appointed Dan Smith, a 20-year industry veteran, to lead it. Smith joins after spending ten years running GE Real Estate's North American fixed- and floating-rate real estate financing programs.

The bank also appointed Dan LePage head of U.S. Real Estate Corporate Banking and hired Kevin Stahl and Bryan Maher to its Real Estate Investment Banking Group. LePage had spent 12 years with Citigroup and Salomon Smith Barney. Stahl joins from GE Real Estate's North America Equity group, and Maher from Calyon Securities.

RBC says the Real Estate Mortgage Capital division is based in New York and the metro Dallas area, with initial expansion planned for Chicago, Phoenix and Newport Beach, Calif.

The division will begin by focusing on providing fixed- and floating-rate commercial mortgage-backed securities loans. As its business develops, the group will expand into products such as collateralized debt obligation loans. Last year in Canada, RBC Capital Markets' CMBS platform closed $655 million of securitization volume, accounting for 20 percent of the Canadian market.

The moves come on the heels of RBC's formation of a REIT equity research team.