H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners Names Michael Mestel and Steven Schwartz as Co-Heads
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with over $50 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that Managing Directors Michael Mestel and Steven Schwartz have been promoted to Co-Heads of H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners. H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners has originated over $3 billion of loans in 33 investments since its inception.
Michael has over two decades of real estate lending experience. He has been at H.I.G. for almost 5 years, and in his most recent role served as Head of Origination for the Realty Credit Partners platform. Prior to that, Michael was a Principal and Head of West Coast Originations at USAA/Square Mile Capital Management, an investment fund manager focused on the origination of credit secured by real estate assets across the United States. He has also served as a Director in the Real Estate Finance group at Citigroup, and as a Vice President at Rialto Capital Management.
Steve has over 30 years of real estate lending and investing experience. He has been at H.I.G. since 2017, and in his most recent role was responsible for Real Estate Special Situations investing at H.I.G.’s Bayside Capital. Prior to joining H.I.G., Steve was a partner at Torchlight Investors, a leading commercial real estate debt investor, where he served on its Board of Directors and its Investment and Operating Committees. Steve spent almost 20 years at JP Morgan, where he headed the CMBS and Commercial Real Estate Lending groups. Steve serves on a National Council of the Urban Land Institute, the Investor Council for the Mortgage Bankers Association and on the New York University Stern Real Estate Advisory Board.
“H.I.G. Capital has a long history of investing in real estate in the middle market space, in both equity and debt strategies, and we have been very pleased with the growth of this business, as well as its investment performance. We look forward to Michael and Steve expanding upon the solid platform that the firm has built over the years,” said H.I.G. Capital Founders and Co-CEOs Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer.
“H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners is a strong fit with the existing real estate and credit businesses at the firm,” said Brian Schwartz, Co-President of H.I.G. Capital. “Michael and Steve put us in a great position to grow this vertical, and to make H.I.G.’s real estate credit business a top tier platform within the middle-market real estate lending space.”
“We are excited to continue the significant expansion of the real estate investing platform at H.I.G. with the promotion of Michael and Steve to lead H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners,” said David Hirschberg and Ira Weidhorn, Co-Heads of H.I.G. Realty Partners.
Mestel and Schwartz stated, “We look forward to leading the expansion of H.I.G.’s real estate credit strategy, as we lend to and invest in strong middle-market transactions with leading sponsors throughout the U.S. We will build on the team’s strong track record of success and will be working together to expand the portfolio and the overall platform.”
About H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners
H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners is the real estate debt platform of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global alternative assets investment firm with over $50 billion of equity capital under management. H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners has completed debt investments with a gross asset value of over $3 billion, including multifamily, logistics, self-storage, office and hospitality. Debt investments include senior bridge loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity collateralized by transitional properties and portfolios. H.I.G. Realty Credit Partners employs a hands-on, operationally focused approach that seeks to generate substantial current income and strong downside protection through creative and thoughtful deal structure, combined with detailed, intensive, bottoms-up underwriting. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website www.higcapital.com.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global alternative assets investment firm with over $50 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:
- H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
- H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
- H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
- H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.
Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.
