Fitch Ratings has upgraded Arbor Realty Trust's U.S. commercial real estate CDO asset manager (CAM) rating from 'CAM2-' to 'CAM2'. Arbor Realty Trust's 2006 'CAM2' rating was re-scaled to match 2007 criteria prior to Fitch's annual review and CAM rating update.
Arbor Realty Trust's CAM rating can be attributed to depth in underwriting and asset management staff, which is critical to the company's role in originating, underwriting, and servicing CRE loans. Arbor Realty Trust maintains a focused investment strategy and an emphasis on its relationship with borrowers. Since the last Fitch review, Arbor Realty Trust has built upon these key drivers, adding additional resources to asset surveillance, and has continued to meet performance expectations.
Arbor Realty Trust's 'CAM2' rating is based on the firm's composite score which represents a weighted average based on the scores assigned for each group of criteria factors summarized below. This composite score is used to establish a systematically applied quantitative link between its asset manager rating and Fitch's CDO rating criteria, in accordance with the approach outlined in the Fitch report 'Reviewing and Rating CDO Asset managers' dated January 2, 2007, available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com.
--Company and Management Experience '2-';
--Staffing '2+';
--Procedures and Controls '2+';
--Portfolio Management '2+';
--CDO Administration '2';
--Technology '2-';
--CDO Portfolio Performance '2-'.
Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ABR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) formed in July 2003 to invest in structured commercial real estate (CRE) finance assets, including whole loans, bridge loans, preferred equity investments, A and B notes, mezzanine loans, and other CRE investments. Arbor Realty Trust is externally managed by Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC (ACM), which was founded in 1993 as a CRE finance subsidiary of a residential mortgage bank.
Arbor Realty Collateral Management, LLC (Arbor) is an indirect subsidiary of Arbor Realty Trust and the collateral manager of three CRE collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). The series of transactions are actively managed and used as financing vehicles for the REIT.
Fitch rates CDO asset managers by asset class, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. The rating scale includes plus ('+') and minus ('-') designations, along with flat ratings. These ratings are based on a standardized scorecard methodology that includes factors in each of the seven groups as noted above.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.
Contacts:
Lauren Keiper, +1-212-908-0268
Vince Matsui,
+1-212-908-0870 (New York)
Media Relations:
Sandro Scenga,
+1-212-908-0278 (New York)
