Fitch Ratings Approves C-III Investment Management CDO Transfers

C-III Investment Management LLC was reviewed this week by Fitch Ratings, a global credit rating agency, as a possible replacement collateralized debt obligation (CDO) collateral asset manager. Fitch decided that C-III Investment Management LLC’s capabilities were consistent with the rating company’s standards for credit asset managers for two transactions — Nomura CRE CDO 2007-2 and AMAC CDO Funding I. C-III Investment Management is a subsidiary of C-III Capital Partners LLC, whose controlling parent company is Andrew Farkas’ Island Capital Group LLC.

In mid-April, C-III Asset Management LLC notified Fitch Ratings that it wanted to transfer the CDO collateral asset management responsibilities for Nomura CRE CDO 2007-2 and AMAC CDO Funding I to C-III Investment Management LLC. Despite the transfer, the crucial employees and technology infrastructure will remain the same.

Fitch Ratings pointed out that the company conducted the review to ensure that C-III Investment Management LLC meets Fitch’s minimum guidelines to manage Nomura CRE CDO 2007-2 and AMAC CDO Funding I according to Fitch’s review procedure for replacement managers. The review procedure is outlined in “Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria” from August 13th and in the report “CDO Asset Managers: U.S. Replacement Activity Update” from last December.

Andrew Farkas’ C-III Capital Partners LLC manages about $2 billion of invested capital for four real estate debt and equity funds and CDOs.