(Bloomberg) -- Elliott Investment Management partnered with Robert Wasmund, the former chief executive officer of Genesis Capital, to build out a new lender for residential development.
The platform, Ascent Developer Solutions, will offer short-term, secured loans for the purchase, renovation and building of housing properties — from single-family homes to apartment buildings — as well as post-completion bridge financing, according to a statement Friday. AscentDS will be backed by funds managed by Elliott, which committed equity capital to the firm.
The new lender is targeting roughly $3 billion to $5 billion in annual originations, Wasmund said.
Wasmund founded AscentDS, headquartered in California, this year to capitalize on the need for financing across the property market. Many lenders have pulled back recently as borrowing costs surged and property prices plunged, creating a gap for companies willing to provide credit.
“There’s a shortage of construction capital in the country given the bank retraction, and there’s a shortage of housing,” Wasmund said in a phone interview. “We’re well-served and well-positioned to take advantage of that.”
Wasmund comes from Genesis Capital, a private lender that catered to residential property developers and was backed by affiliates of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In 2021, the bank sold Genesis to New Residential Investment Corp., now known as Rithm Capital Corp.
AscentDS is an “attractive” addition to Elliott’s mortgage and specialty finance strategy, according to Neil Barve, a senior portfolio manager at Elliott.
AscentDS has “a high-caliber management team led by Robert Wasmund, as well as an analytical and disciplined approach to underwriting and portfolio management, strong and multifaceted relationships with its customers, and a creative approach to meeting the needs of customers,” Barve said.
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