The lender had already agreed to sell its North American servicing and mortgage business to a JV of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Leucadia National Corp. KKR & Co., Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners created Capmark after they purchased the commercial real estate business from GMAC, LLC.

"The Chapter 11 process will give Capmark the opportunity to restructure our balance sheet while continuing to focus on maximizing value for our principal stakeholders," says Mohsin Meghji, chief restructuring officer of Capmark, in a statement. "Over the past months, Capmark has engaged in extensive and constructive negotiations with our primary creditor constituencies to reach agreement on a plan of restructuring. We expect to complete this effort over the coming months."

Capmark has struggled with a continually rising default rate. Capmark Bank, the recent recipient of $600 million of new equity from Capmark will not be part of the bankruptcy filing.