REPORT: Beleaguered San Francisco Landlord Veritas Poised To Sell $802M Mortgage Portfolio
Veritas Investments, San Francisco's largest apartment landlord, is poised to sell an $802M mortgage portfolio associated with 2,149 units in the city, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, citing anonymous sources familiar with the pending deal.
The company previously tried to buy control of its own mortgages, but that effort didn't pan out, the source told the Chronicle.
The reported buyer, Ballast Investments, would take ownership of 75 multifamily assets, thereby becoming one of the city's largest landlords in one swoop. San Francisco-based Ballast has about $2B in assets under management, specializing in multifamily as well as student housing and single-family rentals in the western United States.
Earlier this year, Veritas defaulted on loans secured by some of its San Francisco apartment assets, prompting its lenders to take those loans to market.
The assets represent roughly a third of the company's Bay Area holdings and a quarter of its total holdings. They are spread across two portfolios consisting of trophy multifamily properties and a number of rent-controlled units. In May, the properties as a whole reportedly had a 65% occupancy rate.
Veritas is mainly a landlord in the Bay Area, but it also has holdings in metro Los Angeles, with more than 320 buildings and 7,500 apartments altogether on the West Coast.
CORRECTION, AUG. 31, 9:45 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated the total amount of mortgages that will be sold. This story has been updated to reflect the correct amount.
