Sabal Expands National CMBS Business With Launch of Sabal Commercial Advisors

NEWPORT BEACH, CA--(Marketwired - May 2, 2013) - Sabal Financial Group, L.P., a diversified financial services firm, today announced the expansion of its Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) business with the launch of Sabal Commercial Advisors. Sabal Commercial Advisors will leverage the company's existing CMBS loan underwriting and due diligence platform to provide CMBS investors and CMBS loan originators with a single-source solution for transaction support services. The platform competitively offers both national coverage and regional expertise with a highly skilled CMBS leadership team supported by regional underwriting experts strategically located throughout the west, east and central U.S. regions.

"Sabal's real estate and finance expertise lends unique advantages to our Sabal Commercial Advisors CMBS business as we provide these services to our clients," said R. Patterson ("Pat") Jackson, chief executive officer of Sabal Financial Group. "Our team's extensive CMBS underwriting and deep regional real estate market knowledge competitively positions us for success as the CMBS market rebounds."

Sabal Commercial Advisors will provide a robust set of CMBS services in the two core categories of Loan Origination Underwriting and Loan Re-Underwriting. Sabal's Loan Origination Underwriting services will include due diligence and underwriting of both CMBS and non-CMBS commercial real estate loans for CMBS conduits, lenders and mezzanine lenders. In the Loan Re-Underwriting space, Sabal will serve CMBS bond investors, B-piece buyers, hedge funds, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds with due diligence and re-underwriting for investor client purchases of commercial real estate loan portfolios, or a tranche in a loan pool.

Sabal's CMBS expertise includes cash flow analysis, third-party report reviews, lease analysis, lease abstracting, and rent roll verification; property inspections, market analysis, transaction SWOT analysis, preparation of securitization ASR, borrower, sponsor, and guarantor due diligence, major tenant credit analysis, bond pricing and roll-up analysis of multi-property loans, among other services.

Sabal Commercial Advisors is grounded in Sabal Financial Group's extensive experience underwriting CMBS loans including a dedicated team that completed underwriting for approximately $1.5 billion in CMBS loans per week, for a total in excess of $170 billion, over the past two and a half years.

Sabal Commercial Advisors is led by a highly experienced CMBS team including Ned Smith, business development manager overseeing business development, relationship management and Sarah Suther, due diligence and operations manager. The Sabal Commercial Advisors senior leadership is supported by a team of skilled underwriters strategically located throughout the Unites States, enabling the firm to provide clients with a single-source, CMBS services solution demonstrating regional expertise and national coverage.

"The leadership behind Sabal Commercial Advisors represents the best in class," noted Jackson. "Ned Smith and Sarah Suther are both CMBS veterans and have demonstrated a successful track record in this industry."

Sabal is a nationally rated Special Servicer by Fitch for CMBS loans with a CSS3 rating and by Morningstar with a CS3 rating.

About Sabal Financial Group

Sabal Financial Group, L.P. is an international diversified financial services firm specializing in real estate, banking and lending. The firm's flagship business has established a strong foothold in the distressed debt arena, bringing nearly $6 billion in real estate and land assets under management since the firm's inception in 2009. Sabal operates a number of complementary businesses including: Sabal Commercial Lending, a non-regulated debt provider offering acquisition, development and construction loans to established residential builders and commercial bridge loans to reputable real estate investors and owners; Sabal Commercial Advisors, a national transaction support services provider to CMBS investors and originators; the Sabal Bank Credit Advisory Practice, an advisor and M&A specialist serving commercial and investment banks with unbiased third-party credit portfolio risk and capital performance assessments; and Sabal Fund Surveillance and Analytics, a provider of expert oversight, reporting and disbursement controls on behalf of equity providers in real estate and non-real estate joint ventures, and controlled and non-controlled investment platforms.

A privately held company, Sabal Financial Group is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA. Visit the company online at www.sabalfin.com.