Redwood Trust, a firm dedicated to expanding access to housing for homebuyers and renters, today announced a minority preferred equity investment in Churchill Finance, a vertically-integrated real estate finance company based in New York City. Operating since 2014, Churchill focuses on the origination, aggregation, and asset management of real estate credit products backed by residential, multifamily and commercial properties.
The investment will help grow and diversify the asset sourcing channels for CoreVest, a Redwood Trust company and a lender to residential real estate investors. The investment will also provide growth capital for Churchill as well as access to additional capital markets expertise. Investment proceeds will be used for a combination of capital to invest in strategic growth initiatives of Churchill, and for deployment into financial assets originated by Churchill across its investment verticals.
“A strategic partnership with Churchill accelerates our strategy to further expand our footprint in the $90 billion business purpose lending market. Churchill has developed a unique business model with attractive adjacencies to our core business,” said Beth O’Brien, CoreVest CEO. “Diversifying our sourcing channels provides us with additional scale and expands how we meet the growing needs of sophisticated housing investors. I am excited about working closely with the Churchill leadership team, including joining Churchill’s Board, to help drive our aligned strategies in providing best-in-class financing solutions to the marketplace.”
“Over the past six years we have established Churchill as a leading market participant across the real estate credit spectrum. We are excited to have a strategic investor with the reputation and expertise of Redwood and its leadership team. We look forward to leveraging the strategic synergies of our businesses to continue growing in the markets we serve,” said Sorabh Maheshwari, a Founding Partner of Churchill. “We are pleased to welcome Beth to our Board. Her expertise in the capital markets and business creation and development will provide valuable insight as we execute on our strategic initiatives.”
Piper Sandler & Co. served as the exclusive financial advisor to Churchill Finance.
