(Read more on the debt and equity markets.)

IRVINE, CA-Johnson Capital Express, a division of Johnson Capital that targets the market for financings under $5 million, is expanding its operations nationwide in response to its growth in Western US markets and what it calls "interest from borrowers across the country." The Johnson Capital Express division, which closed $4 billion in transactions last year, processes and sells commercial real estate loans for retail, industrial, office, multifamily, self-storage, hospitality and mobile home park properties.

Headed by Ken Gaitan, Johnson Capital Express has been seeing "a tremendous amount of demand in the office, multifamily and retail sectors" for a wide range of financings between $1 million and $5 million, Gaitan says. He notes that the Capital Express platform has already built a strong portfolio in the West, especially in California.

The Johnson Capital Express expansion plans call for growth into the Sunbelt states, the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. Although its target market is in the range of $1 million to $5 million, JCE also does larger deals, like the $22.6-million acquisition loan that it recently closed for a seven-property apartment portfolio in Orange County.