NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has affirmed the commercial mortgage special servicer rating of AEGON USA Realty Advisor, LLC (AURA) at 'CSS2'.
The affirmation of AURA's special servicer rating reflects the experience of the company, which has been working out assets since 1991, in conjunction with the experience and tenure of the staff which remain high, despite 32% aggregate turnover in 2015. The rating also considers the company's detailed and thorough policies and procedures coupled with its multilayer internal control environment, propriety asset management system, as well as the financial support provided by its investment grade parent company, AEGON, N.V.
AURA provides real estate investment services, including special servicing, for its general investment account and other unaffiliated institutional investors including CMBS conduit and single-borrower transactions. The company's named CMBS portfolio has been driving growth in special servicing as AURA was appointed the named special servicer for two single borrower and one conduit transaction in 2014, as well as three additional single borrower transactions. CMBS special servicing now accounts for approximately 34% of the company's named special servicing portfolio, the majority of which is on behalf of third-party non-affiliate investors. The company special services all major asset types, including multifamily, office, retail, industrial and healthcare, with properties spread across the U.S.
As of June 30, 2015, AURA's named special servicing portfolio was comprised of 34 CMBS loans with a UPB of $5 billion in 13 transactions. Of the 34 loans, four were actively being special serviced with a UPB of $4.6 million, and four are real estate owned (REO) assets totaling $30 million. Additionally, the company was named special servicer on 1,294 non CMBS loans with a UPB of $9.5 billion, of which 117 loans with an UPB of $1.3 billion and 50 REO assets with a UPB of $404.6 million were being actively special serviced, inclusive of non-defaulted high risk loans.
Fitch's servicer rating methodology is described in Fitch's reports 'U.S. Commercial Mortgage Servicer Rating Criteria', dated Feb. 14, 2014 and 'Rating Criteria for Structured Finance Servicers' dated April 23, 2015, which are available on Fitch's web site www.fitchratings.com.
Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.
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