John Christen Joins LEM

LEM Mezzanine announced today that John Christen has joined the company as a Managing Director to focus on new loan originations, including mezzanine loans, bridge loans, B-notes and other structured finance products. Christen was recently a senior vice-president with RAIT Financial Trust. "We are very excited to bring John onboard," said Herb Miller, one of LEM's founding partners. "John has a great reputation in the lending community and brings a wealth of experience and relationships to LEM."

"We feel very fortunate to have found someone of John's caliber to join the LEM team", added partner Jay Eisner. LEM is looking to add additional analysts and originators as the company expands its products and grows its lending platform. The company is currently investing its second fund, which is expected to have over $600 million of assets once fully invested.

LEM, a series of private equity funds with over $450 million of equity, provides mezzanine and B-Note financing from $1 million to $20 million and first mortgage bridge loans from $15 million to $75 million for commercial and multifamily properties nationwide. LEM writes larger deals if they involve a portfolio of assets or special situations. Loans are generally non-recourse for up to 90% of value with terms of up to 10 years. LEM is a member of Independence Capital Partners, a group of private equity funds including Lubert-Adler Partners and Rubenstein Partners, with over $6.5 billion of equity under management.