FINANCIAL UNDERWRITING, LOAN WORKOUT & DEBT RESTRUCTURE
Client’s Name: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Affordable Housing Preservation (OAHP)
Period of Performance: May 1999– Present
Description of Services Provided: The Multifamily Assisted Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 prompted the “Mark-to-Market Program (M2M)” for the comprehensive underwriting, subsidy realignment and debt restructure for 10,000 expiring FHA-insured Section 8 project based multifamily properties, housing 1.6 million tenants.
Now in our 10th year, Signet has conducted the M2M program for over 700 properties in 28 states resulting in $750 million in loan restructures and saving approximately $400 million in excess rent subsidies. Our related responsibilities include physical and financial evaluation, market analysis, subsidy and debt restructure underwriting, owner negotiations, transaction closings and disbursement administration for capital repair escrows. In 2009, the program received additional funding under for green and energy conservation retrofits. Signet now underwrites these improvements with LEED designated staff and conducts the rigorous reporting associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
PORTFOLIO DUE DILIGENCE & VALUATION
Client’s Name: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Period of Performance: May 1998 - 2000
Description of Services Provided: The National Sales Center and the Western Service Center of the FDIC conducted a sales initiative of approximately 9,000 assets in two phases. Known as “Sale ‘98”, the scope of services included the analysis, valuation and sales structuring for three asset groups: 1,393 mortgage loans ($34.5 million); 7,831 servicing rights assets ($783 million); and 91 Mortgage Backed Securities transactions ($789 million). Signet performed both financial advisory and due diligence tasks in the Forward Loan Sale, collapse of Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) Trust Structures and completion of Servicing Rights Sales. Signet was instrumental in acting as the Transaction Financial Advisor to the Program Sales Advisor. Signet’s specific securities understanding and valuation knowledge was utilized in the documentation, analysis, and disposition strategies for these complex assets. For example, we discovered and ultimately facilitated the recovery of over $4 million from one REMIC security alone. Signet completed due diligence on these assets, valuing all securities, analyzing derived income, identified ownership interest, analyzed tax liability consequences, and recommended stratification and pooling scenarios. Our Due Diligence efforts included reconstruction of asset files, missing document research, field inspections, investor market assessment, retrieval of critical asset information from scattered locations and tracing of ownership and title conveyance.
ASSET MANAGEMENT & DISPOSITION
Client’s Name: Resolution Trust Corporation
Period of Performance: 1991 - 1996
Description of Services Provided: The SAMDA, awarded in late 1990, involved the asset management and disposition of commercial loans and ORE assets including land development parcels, residential subdivisions, occupied shopping centers, office buildings, branch bank facilities, and multifamily apartment buildings located in Colorado, Arizona, Florida, and California. Our team was directly responsible for stabilizing and selling 80% of the initial portfolio within the first 15 months of the SAMDA contract, recovering 70% of appraised value. In noting Signet’s performance, the RTC modified and extended our SAMDA contract on three occasions to add nonperforming loans and thrift subsidiary entity assets.
The SAMA contract, conducted in late 1994 and 1995, provided asset management services for ORE assets (mixed commercial and subdivision properties) in conjunction disposition through a series of national RTC sales initiatives. This contract supported RTC as it organized and conducted a large-scale sales program in collaboration with major investment banking firms (N & S-Series Sales). Signet had complete responsibility to “make the assets market ready”. The aggregate book value of assets managed under this contract totaled $1.1 billion.
CONSTRUCTION ESCROW ADMINISTRATION & DISBURSEMENT
Client’s Name: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Affordable Housing Preservation (OAHP)
Period of Performance: March 2003 – Present
Description of Services Provided: Signet holds the escrow funds provided by HUD/OAHP in specialized bank accounts, while overseeing inspections of completed construction and repair work on multifamily properties, disbursing project escrow funds upon merit and currently administering nearly 200 separate property escrow accounts approaching $60 million in total managed funds under direct fiscal control. As HUD’s fiduciary, Signet enters into Rehabilitation Escrow Deposit Agreements with property owners throughout the United States. Signet’s fundamental responsibility is to assure all terms and conditions of these agreements are met to directing and managing the physical inspections and confirming completed work has been done in compliance with all agreement provisions, Signet maintains internal fiscal controls to ensure all deposited funds are fully protected – including safeguards against business failures by the depositories. The results of a HUD audit conducted during June 2008 were exemplary.
Client’s Name: Federal regulatory agency (disclosure restricted)
Period of Performance: 2009 - Present
Description of Services Provided: Signet Partners provides compliance monitoring and audit services to a Federal regulator in connection with resolving non-performing loans (secured and unsecured). Through resolution agreements between the regulator and institutions acquiring these troubled loans, Signet is responsible for assessing compliance with the terms of these agreements including use of industry best practices in all aspects of duties performed under such agreements. In order to have been awarded this multi-year contract, we had to demonstrate fundamental experience and qualifications in:
- Audit regimen and discipline;
- The workout process from due diligence to settlement and closing; and
- The breadth of asset types that are the included in the agreements.
Inherent in this compliance audit engagement is our practical experience as an RTC/FDIC fiduciary in conducting comparable asset management and disposition contracts. Relevant experience required in connection with these compliance audits include:
- Fundamental understanding of resolution agreement provisions and compliance criteria;
- Design and conduct of field audit methods, procedures and quality control;
- Knowledge of best practices for real estate lending, due diligence, valuation, workout, disposition and transaction management and reporting;
- Knowledge of underlying asset types - subsidiary entities, REMIC securities, non-performing loans, servicing rights, and “other” loans and ORE assets;
- Records Management and Client Reporting - document re-creation, development of security procedures, file/ database management and tracking systems.
- GSA Schedules
- Company Resources
Signet Partners
7400 E. Crestline Circle
Suite 150
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Phone: 303.773.3330
Toll Free: 888.901.3330
Fax: 303.773.6256
Email: info@signetpartners.com
