Earnings Labs

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (BXMT)

Q1 2011 Earnings Call· Wed, May 11, 2011

$19.97

-0.75%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, and welcome to the Capital Trust first quarter 2011 results conference call. Before we begin, please be advised that the forward-looking statements contained on this conference call are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the continued credit performance of the Company’s loan and CMBS investments, its asset/liability mix, the effectiveness of the Company’s hedging strategy, the rate of repayment of the Company’s portfolio assets and the impact of these events on the Company’s cash flow, as well as other risks indicated from time to-time in the Company’s Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events or circumstances. There will be a Q&A session following the conclusion of this presentation. At that time, I will provide instructions for submitting a question to management. I will now turn the call over to Stephen Plavin, CEO of Capital Trust.

Stephen Plavin

Management

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us and for your interest in Capital Trust. With me are Geff Jervis, our Chief Financial Officer; and Tom Ruffing, our Chief Credit Officer and Head of Asset Management. Last night, we filed our 10-Q and announced our results for the first quarter, which was highlighted by the comprehensive restructuring of all of our Legacy recourse liabilities, in a transaction that closed March 31. Geff will take you through the key points of the restructure in the quarterly results, and also introduce our adjusted balance sheet and operating results. I will focus my remarks on post-restructured CT and the commercial mortgage market. Completing the debt restructure was a necessary step in the evolution of Capital Trust. Our financial condition is greatly improved. We have isolated the down side REIT associated with our peak of the market balance sheet assets while maintaining management control at a significant ownership interest. By having established the necessary time to work and collect our legacy assets in an improving market, we will maximize the recovery for all legacy REIT-share stakeholders as well as the CT shareholders. In fact, we’ve already paid down over $100 million of legacy REIT debt from underline loan repayments since quarter end. Although there is still great volatility within the legacy REIT portfolio, we do expect to achieve additional pay downs over the next 12 months as we work the assets and progress towards the beginning of the equity realization, which is still likely a few years out. Post restructure, CT maintains full economic and management control of CT Investor Management Company, or CTIMCO, our wholly-owned management subsidiary. CTIMCO manages its public company parent, the newly formed legacy asset REIT, four CT-sponsored private equity funds, five CDOs, and loan workouts and restructuring…

Geoffrey Jervis

Management

Thank you, Steve, and good morning everyone. As Steve mentioned, last night we reported our earnings for the first quarter and filed our Form 10-Q. Net income for the period was $254.6 million or $11.35 per share, driven by $250 million of gains on the extinguishment of debt, primarily associated with our March 31 restructuring. Total assets on the balance sheet at quarter end stood at $3.9 billion, down $230 million from year end as the portfolio continued to experience repayment. Total liabilities were $4 billion and shareholders’ equity was negative $111 million. On a per-share basis, based upon 22.8 million shares outstanding, book value per share was negative $4.88. As these GAAP numbers show, we continue to be plagued by the distortions of GAAP required consolidation regimes. This quarter, as we promised on the last earnings call, we began reporting an adjusted income statement and balance sheet. We believe that these adjusted statement allow investors to better understand the economic condition of the company. These financials can be found in the earnings press release we filed last night, and also in the MD&A section of our Form 10-Q. The adjustments to our GAAP financials are three. First, we eliminate the consolidation of securitization vehicles under FAS 167, showing only our net investment in such vehicles. And since all the liabilities in these vehicles are non-recourse, we only record a net investment to the extent that it has a positive value. Second, we eliminate the assets and liabilities on our GAAP financials associated with assets that we sold, but where the sales did not meet GAAP criteria for sale accounting, and remain consolidated on our financials. We refer to these as participation sold. Finally, the third adjustment is that we divide the resulting financial statement into those of CT Legacy…

Stephen Plavin

Management

Thank you, Geff. Josh, you can open the call to questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions). At this time there are no questions, but one more reminder. (Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Chris Mittleman from Mittleman Brothers. Please go ahead, your line is open. Chris Mittleman – Mittleman Brothers: Hi, guys. I was wondering, you said the opportunities for taking advantage of the environment exists at the CTIMCO level, but in terms of your own balance sheet, are you considering maybe doing a rights offering to raise some capital to take advantage on your own balance sheet directly, maybe to put the NOL to a little bit of better use?

Stephen Plavin

Management

We have certainly evaluated all means of raising capital. Historically, we’ve raised capital both publically and privately. We’re definitely considering, you know, in terms of a balance sheet standpoint, how best to raise that capital and certainly a rights offering is one of the structures that we’re getting serious about too. Chris Mittleman – Mittleman Brothers: Okay, great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions, but one final reminder. (Operator Instructions). We still have no questions, so at this point I would like to turn it back over to Mr. Plavin for his further remarks.

Stephen Plavin

Management

Thank you, everyone, for joining us. We look forward to reporting to you next quarter.

Operator

Operator

This does conclude your teleconference. Thank you for your participation. Please have a nice day, and you may now disconnect.