Criimi Mae Snags $500M Facility

Criimi Mae, a commercial mortgage real estate investment trust based in Rockville, Md., has received a commitment for a $500 million nonrecourse warehouse facility that it intends to use to finance commercial mortgage originations.The facility is priced at the London interbank offered rate plus 75 basis points, Criimi Mae said. The REIT said it intends to hold the commercial mortgages originated until there is enough volume to securitize them. In addition, the REIT is paying off $293 million of recourse debt with proceeds from the issuance of a nonrecourse senior interest in its BB-plus rated securities, proceeds on the liquidation of hedging instruments, and drawings on a new four-year repurchase facility. Deutsche Bank is purchasing the senior interest and is also providing the two new financing facilities, Criimi Mae said. Criimi Mae can be found online at http://www.criimimaeinc.com.