Buffet's Berkshire Buying Commercial MB Capmark Financial

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Leucadia National Corp. have teamed up to buy Capmark Financial Group's struggling commercial mortgage servicing and production units for a reported $490 million. At June 30, Capmark ranked third among all commercial servicers with $248 billion in receivables. According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, Capmark is a top five ranked commercial funder. The announced sale comes a few days after Capmark said it might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after delinquent commercial mortgages left it with a $1.62 billion second-quarter loss. It said stockholders had negative equity of $1.14 billion as of June 30. In 2006 an investor group led by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners bought a majority stake in Capmark's predecessor company, GMAC Commercial Mortgage of Horsham, Pa.