IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

by Bjorn Borgenhard

My name is Bjorn Borgenhard and I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself, but let me first say how excited I am to have joined 1^st Service Solutions. What a team! I am proud to bring my 30 years of experience in the finance and commercial real estate industries to this exceptional group of people.

You have probably guessed by now that I am originally from Sweden. Through various missteps, lucky coincidences and calculated decisions (at least I like to think of them as such) I landed at Merrill Lynch 20 years ago in their CMBS conduit as an underwriter. It was the infancy of the CMBS industry. It had just emerged from being invented by crafty traders on Wall Street, one of which I was fortunate enough to work with, as a vehicle to dispose of both performing and non-performing commercial real estate loans left without a home as a result of the Savings & Loan crisis in late 80’s early 90’s.

After 7+ years with Merrill Lynch the Canadian CMBS industry was well established and I set my eyes on sunnier climates. I joined LNR, the largest CMBS Special Servicer and B-piece buyer in the world, on Miami Beach. Life was good! I spent the past 12 years with LNR as an SVP both on the workout and investment side. Now, if you think facing being in Special Servicing as a Borrower is daunting and confusing from the outside, let me assure you that it is no less so from the inside. Navigating the murky waters of Special Servicing is a delicate balance between various parties with conflicting interests from the Borrower to the ultimate investors in the bonds, one of which is often the Special Servicer.

During my time at LNR I have seen how anything from these conflicting interests to the willingness of the asset manager to champion a cause can impact the outcome of a workout solution – or lack thereof.

In any negotiation the more you know about your adversary the stronger your hand is. Based on my 20 years of experience in the CMBS industry I am probably as close as you can get to that dream. Think of me as your CMBS Undercover Agent that just emerged from a 20-year intelligence-gathering mission. I look forward to putting all that intelligence to work for you as part of the team at 1^st Service Solutions.