NEW YORK CITY-After closing 18 commercial real estate loans totaling more than $1.1 billion in 2011, financial services firm ING Real Estate Finance (USA) is taking a more conservative approach in 2012. Given the Eurozone crisis and market volatility in the States, Michael Shields, managing director of ING Real Estate Finance (USA), tells GlobeSt.com that he predicts deal volume will be “slightly less,” but still active.

“For European banks in particular, there is less capital for growth,” Shields says, noting that the company will attempt to maintain a flat balance sheet throughout the year. “We are only going to be able to lend out what gets re-paid. We’ve had a lot of repayments, and we are working on some other things that will free up some capital. It depends – if you have half a billion dollars to repay, which we will probably have at least that, if I get unexpected repayments of another $200, $300 or $400 million, we will have some additional capital.”

Last year, ING Real Estate Finance closed on a $100 million refinancing of Metropolitan Tower at 142 W. 57^th St. in Midtown Manhattan, a class A office building owned by a joint venture of BlackRock and L&L Holding Co. The firm also closed on a $72.8-million term loan with Invesco Real Estate secured by assets Invesco owns throughout the country, including a 20,000-square-foot retail condo located at 512 Broadway in Manhattan, an industrial property in Dallas and a multifamily property in Denver. In addition, ING completed a $70-million term loan on behalf of a joint venture of Brookfield Office Properties and private equity giant Blackstone Group to refinance 1550 & 1560 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, VA.