CRE has more characters/capita than any other industry on the planet. But even among its vast array of colorful dealmakers, Rajeev Misra stands out.

Picture a man running the $100B SoftBank Vision Fund, working his way through the world’s most institutional boardrooms in the world as Masa Son’s right hand. Now picture that same man propping his bare feet on the knee of a top soccer bigwig, mid-pitch about FIFA streaming rights while aboard a private jet. The paan-chewing, hard-charging financier who was one of the most dominant figures in tech investing is now growing his heft in the CRE capital markets through his new-ish vehicle, One Investment Management. 👇

A 🖋️ from Pensford’s Joe Long: Banks are back, rates are up, holds are often longer, and volatility remains the defining theme. So when considering bank swaps, one of the key questions for a CRE sponsor is: “What term should I go with?” Though shorter terms mean less risk of a prepayment penalty, they could also mean getting caught out if the business plan moves slower than expected – as it certainly can in the CRE business.

One potential solution is what’s known as a cancellable (or callable) swap. Read on for exactly how that works.

To rack up his war chest, Misra went directly to the motherlode: Abu Dhabi - the Emirati royals, through vehicles such as FO Royal Group & SWF Mubadala, are his biggest backers, and as of Feb. his entire fundraising haul has come from the Middle East, per Bloomberg. Founded in ‘22 while Misra was still at SoftBank, OneIM now says it manages ≈ $10B AUM across a variety of vehicles, and CRE’s become one of the more prominent ones. The most recent deal, announced Friday: OneIM is part of a $300M recap of Broad Street Development (Raymond Chalme)’s and Invesco’s 80 Broad, a FiDi office-resi project. It also backed Savanna on a luxe resi project in West Palm Beach, part of a consortium (Zeckendorf Bros., Elliott cub Fred Bronstein, Sculptor) that kicked in $380M.

We’ve talked previously about how Scott Rechler is preternaturally good at scouting new deep-pocketed partners itching to deploy. Rechler’s RXR teamed up w/ OneIM on a $500M multifamily JV in spring ‘24, looking to pounce on broken capstacks (plenty of those to be had). That RXR connection has spawned a string of deals, including:

Promote Insiders: Read on for the full story at the end of this newsletter 🔒 👇

The inevitable happened: Apollo, run by the Mamdani-loathing Marc Rowan, is teasing plans for a second HQ in the American South. “We’ve shared with our teams across Apollo and Athene that we plan to establish a second headquarters in either Texas or South Florida, alongside NYC,” the firm said in response to an FT report. It specifically flagged the talent equation, saying that “New York does not have a monopoly on talent, and we expect most of our future growth will take place in our second HQ.”

Apollo’s NYC spread currently includes a home base at the Solow Building, some Bryant Park space on a sublease, and floors at 590 Madison (now an RXR/Gemini/Elliott joint, financed by Apollo fwiw). But w/ its ranks swelling to 4,000+ employees (more than 2x the 2020 figure) and a HoF tear of AUM Gobbling ™, Manhattan may no longer be enough. In this, Apollo’s plans echo those of other financial giants such as JPM – which now has a giant presence in Texas – and Citadel, which has shown city-shaping aspirations in Miami. But there are important questions for both the Dallas Bulls and 305 Papis to consider:

1) Who ends up in these non-NYC offices? Is it core rainmakers, or largely back-office blokes? As these firms get bigger & bigger, New York becomes cost-prohibitive, and any jobs that don’t need to be there might as well be in a state where there are generous incentives to be had and the Chambers of Commerce will prostrate before you. Friend of the pod Arpit Gupta shared some thought-provoking charts of New York’s definancialization. But for the people that matter, New York remains, at least for now, the hub, as one can see in the following

• JPM has been expanding like mad in NYC. Their total commitment (owned + leased) is now kissing 6Msf
• Amex will be the sole owner/occupier of 2 WTC (Insiders: Good deets here 🔒 )
• Citadel is forging ahead w/ plans for a ground-up NYC tower @ 350 Park

Now, if these satellite markets become a hub for market-moving talent, that will be a different and far more interesting conversation.

2) Logic & emotion: Captains of the universe, who are largely creatures of Manhattan, are in an interesting pickle. On the one hand, the city reared them, minted them, and remains the best place for them to find the best people. On the other, they’re often demonized (Zohran: “I don’t think we should have billionaires.”) and sometimes disincentivized to keep growing there. This I believe is part of what leads them to hedge so hard when it comes to New York/elsewhere.

3) Black edge: Bit of a wildcard, but: In New York, you say “Apollo,” and the first person that prob comes to mind is disgraced co-founder Leon Black. Black was such an outsized figure on New York’s business & cultural scene; starting afresh elsewhere is a way to erase that stain