NEW YORK CITY—Boutique investment banking firm Lotus Capital Partners, launched in late 2016 by industry veteran Faisal Ashraf, has launched a loan sale and distribution business aimed at lenders and investors who want to de-risk and leverage their positions in whole loans, A-notes, and mezzanine debt. The firm has tapped Tim Taylor, most recently head of special situations at Ten-X, to lead the new platform.

“We're at an inflection point for loan distribution,” says Ahraf. “Lenders are becoming increasingly reliant on loan sales as a mechanism to address various intensifying pressures from regulations, shareholders, competition and investment committees. Our clients are looking at distribution as a solution to rebalance holdings, leverage yield, or simply to de-risk their positions.”

Distributing components within a client's capital structure is not a typical feature of loan sale advisories, but Lotus already has closed approximately $150 million in private placements. Among these are three separate ten-year mezzanine tranches on Allergen's new US headquarters in Madison, NJ; Lotus structured and separately placed $70 million with Hyundai Asset Management, Morrison Street Capital and BlackRock.