Spotlight on Daniel Ottensoser, Managing Director, Co-Head of Credit, CIM Group
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Daniel Ottensoser, Managing Director, Co-Head of Credit, CIM Group
Senior lending in liquidity-constrained markets
CIM believes under-subscribed, more liquidity‑constrained segments of the market may allow disciplined private lenders to command more attractive spreads and unlevered yields, stronger credit metrics, and tighter covenants. As a result, these lending opportunities, especially via senior secured first mortgages, can offer the potential for risk-adjusted returns.
One attractive liquidity-constrained segment that CIM views as more evergreen in nature is senior value-add lending. These transactions typically include less lender competition as they involve underwriting “real estate-oriented” business plans driven by asset‑level fundamentals, such as capital improvements, repositioning, or ground‑up construction, rather than financial engineering.
Such business plans can serve as a meaningful barrier to entry for lenders not resourced with in-house development and property management or leasing capabilities. We believe this dynamic may create opportunities for attractive returns, along with strong credit metrics and covenants.
Among the most attractive liquidity‑constrained opportunities CIM sees today is senior secured first mortgage office lending. Like senior value‑add lending, this segment has seen materially reduced lender participation following a significant reset in office property values. While multifamily and industrial valuations have largely recovered to pre-2019 levels, office valuations remain meaningfully dislocated, residing ~30-40% below 2019 levels.¹
At the same time, traditional capital providers, including banks, mortgage REITs, and CMBS issuers, have materially reduced office lending activity by ~15% on average since 2019, creating a significant capital shortfall.²
Opportunities for sophisticated investors
Real estate private credit has historically offered attractive income potential and defensive risk characteristics, especially senior secured first mortgages, which hold senior claims in the capital structure and are secured by hard real estate assets, relative to other asset classes.
Real estate private credit is currently generating an ~8% unlevered yield, exceeding that of traditional public credit markets, while exhibiting lower volatility. Within an overall portfolio context, the asset class has historically benefited institutional investors in terms of diversification to both public and private markets.³
Over the last 10 years, corporate direct lending strategies have raised over US$600 billion all while experiencing renewed competition from the broadly syndicated loan market. These developments have resulted in corporate direct lending unlevered yields normalising ~300 basis points to an ~8.5% context, on average. Further, it is acknowledged that corporate direct lending has yet to enter the later stages of its cycle. While these developments remind us of the importance of disciplined underwriting and diversification across credit-related investment strategies.⁴
Real estate private credit may also complement real estate private equity allocations by occupying a structurally senior position in the capital stack while delivering higher current income, allowing allocators to maintain real asset exposure with materially lower volatility and capital risk. Senior secured first mortgages benefit from equity absorbing first loss, while lenders receive priority payments and have contractual protections. In this context, real estate private credit may serve as an effective risk‑control and income-stabilisation lever within portfolios, while providing exposure to real assets.
Daniel will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Family Office Investment Forum on Tuesday, 1 September 2026 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
¹ Green Street Research, as of 3/31/2026.
² MSCI Real Capital Analytics, as of 12/31/2025.
³ Real Estate Private Credit yield based on NCREIF/CREFC data as of 6/30/26. Comparisons to public credit markets are based on Bloomberg Global High Yield, Global IG Corporate, and Global Fixed Income index yields as of 6/30/26. Volatility analysis is based on 15-year annualized standard deviations sourced from Preqin and Bloomberg as of 12/31/25.
⁴ Preqin (capital raised and dry powder as of 12/31/2025); Lincoln International (direct lending yields as of 5/18/2026).
Daniel Ottensoser, Managing Director, Co-Head of Credit, CIM Group
Daniel is a Managing Director in the Investments Group and Co-Head of Credit at CIM Group. He is responsible for overseeing portfolio construction and asset allocation for CIM’s credit funds, including handling first mortgage loans on commercial real estate assets.
Prior to joining CIM, Daniel was a Partner and Managing Director at H/2 Capital Partners.
Daniel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from The City University of New York, Queens College and a Juris Doctor degree from the Columbia University School of Law.
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