Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Bryan Donohoe: I think you outlined pretty well, a lot of the things that we consider, as we sit here today, over 80% of our loans have interest rate caps in place. And to the extent they don’t, and that’s some, that is something that we’ve taken the position, in all likelihood that that money can be more accretively used elsewhere in the overall structure. So in general, we’re working towards getting principal reductions, extension fees, rate changes, et cetera. All the things that – you would expect us to be doing, keeping in mind the overall landscape and how to best resolve the situation. But given the movement in capital markets, one of the sayings that is out there is kind of existing lenders, the best lender and you sit there, with the ability to restructure or rework loan without going through a lot of the frictional costs of doing so, and keeping that money in the system and we think in certain instances, that’s going to lead to the best outcome ultimately.

Stephen Laws: Great. And as a follow-up to maybe a couple of earlier questions, can you maybe tie together your expectations near-term on portfolio given? It doesn’t sound like any new originations, but we will have some fundings of preexisting commitments, possibly your appetite for additional loan sales. And then kind of as follow-ups to my previous comments, when we think about the Ares facility and your intention to reinvest capital that you free up later this year around resolutions? Their thoughts to lending now and funding what the Ares facility and you know in a less competitive world with higher returns and then pulling that down later, how do you think about utilizing that to keep your capital efficiently deployed?

Bryan Donohoe: It’s a great point. And we continue to look at that as a benefit both in terms of origination of new loans and potentially liquidity sources as well. I guess overarching, we don’t expect the opportunity set to go away anytime soon. So the selectivity that we will employ in the coming quarters will be a constant. Certainly, we think that the relative positioning at the closing table favors those with capital like ourselves and with the creativity to structure loans in this environment. So, we look at all of the avenues of our financing facilities, legacy, CLOs et cetera, as well as what the structure you’re referencing, to position us to take advantage and really put out a accretive dollars moving forward. But that selectivity is the focus point today.

Stephen Laws: Great, appreciate the comments. Thanks.

Operator: The next question comes from Rick Shane with JPMorgan. Please proceed.

Rick Shane: Hi guys, thanks for taking my question. I have two questions on somewhat different topics. When we look at the funding over the last couple quarters, one of the things that I noticed was that the outstanding balance on the 2021 CLO has come down about $80 million over the last two quarters it’s about $40 million a quarter? As that’s occurred, the funding spreads widened about 14 basis points. I’m curious I’m assuming you guys, are no longer in the reinvestment period on that. Are those buyouts – why is that structure deleveraging in a way that the 2017, which is frankly older, is not?