Benefit Street Partners' Michael Comparato - the opportunity in commercial real estate credit

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s episode brings commercial real estate credit investing to life with someone who has real estate in his blood. Michael Comparato’s grandfather started building single-family homes in upstate New York in 1946. He built his first shopping center in 1958. Michael was born into a family where he was on construction sites from a young age. At 13, he was doing landscaping. At 15, he was hanging drywall. Today, Michael is a Senior Managing Director, Head of Real Estate and Portfolio Manager with Benefit Street Partners, as well as Chief Executive Officer of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: FBRT). He also serves on the US Executive Committee.Prior to joining BSP in 2015, Michael was Head of U.S. Equity Investments at Ladder Capital. Before that, he was President at Bank Atlantic Commercial Mortgage Capital.Benefit Street Partners is part of Franklin Templeton’s family of specialists in private markets. BSP is a specialized private credit firm with over $92B in AUM. The firm manages a wide range of private credit strategies, including direct lending, special situations, commercial real estate debt, infrastructure debt, asset-backed finance, structured credit, and liquid credit. It also manages a non-traded Business Development Company and publicly-listed mortgage REIT.Since BSP was acquired by Franklin Templeton in 2019, it has partnered with the $1.7T investment manager to expand how it structures various products and funds, enabling more access to the private credit asset class for wealth investors.From his perch as the Head of BSP’s Real Estate business, Michael has the perspective of how one of the industry’s scaled real estate investment firms is approaching commercial real estate credit and where the firm sees opportunity. Michael and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of CRE credit and why now might be an interesting time in the CRE credit space. We covered:Why CRE, why now.What bank retrenchment means for CRE credit investors today.The relative resilience of multi-family.The maturity wall myth.Is the “extend and pretend” activity a reality?How AI impacts commercial real estate.Thanks Michael for sharing your passion, wisdom, and expertise on commercial real estate credit.Show Notes00:00 Meet Michael Comparato01:17 Real Estate Roots03:25 Early Lessons and Purpose03:35 Hurricanes And Tenants05:05 Story Over Spreadsheet06:49 Why Origination Wins08:43 Family Business Ethos10:59 Trust And Transparency11:27 Lending Through Covid13:05 Structuring For Uncertainty13:56 Boom Times Underwriting Shifts16:54 Crowded Class A Trade18:19 Are Values Fair Today21:46 Operator Shakeout23:59 Scale and Market Structure26:16 Banks Pull Back Credit27:59 Private Credit Fills Gap29:24 Who Holds Last Dollar Risk29:29 Returns and Competition30:35 Competition Compresses Yields30:58 Maturity Wall Myth33:05 How Investors Bucket Credit36:04 Wealth Channel Opportunity37:49 Why Credit Beats Equity Now41:58 Megatrends and AI Fears44:40 Shelter and Multifamily Focus46:11 Community and Social Real Estate48:16 Real Estate Constant Evolution51:06 CRE Credit vs Direct Lending53:21 Final Wrap and OutroA Word from Our Sponsor, UltimusThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.