Finance Mortgage Banking
SoCal Lender Kicks Off Another $100M Mortgage Pool Fund
Aug 28, 2008
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Los Angeles-based Wilshire Finance Partners has introduced Wilshire Income Fund II, its second real estate mortgage pool fund. The fund will raise $100 million to make commercial property loans. This time around, however, the company will be able to welcome investors and borrowers from beyond the borders of the State of California.

Wilshire Income Fund II, like the first vehicle, is designed to tap into a market hungry for alternative lending sources in the face of a credit crisis and diminishing property values. The fund consists of several well-underwritten trust deed loans; investors purchase shares of the fund, and money is made available to borrowers. Financing will be considered for a variety of real estate endeavors, from construction and rehabilitation to foreclosure acquisitions, involving a bevy of property types including industrial, mixed-use, multifamily, office and retail.

For investors' comfort, Wilshire Finance touts the diversified loan portfolio, as well as a 65 percent loan-to-value ratio and a 35 percent protective equity as means of limiting risk.

Wilshire Finance's first fund launched in June, offering short-term loans ranging from $500,000 to $3 million, and targeting annual returns of a minimum 10 percent. Among its activities was the furnishing of a $600 million bridge loan/second mortgage for the redevelopment of a retail/restaurant strip mall.


 
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