ING Real Estate Anticipates Big Deals Ahead

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.”