Tom Capasse
Analyst · Crispin Love with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead
1:54 Thanks, Andrew. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining the call today. The fourth quarter's results capped another banner year for Ready Capital in earnings, originations and growth. We continue to build one of the most diversified CRE multi-strategy credit origination and securitization platforms in the industry through continued expansion in product offerings and as a leader in CREITs – in the CREIT space and strategic acquisitions. Our lending platform is supported by a rock solid balance sheet, which has improved both from a cost of financing and liquidity standpoint. 2:29 Now in the fourth quarter, we originated a record $2.2 billion of small balance commercial or SBC loans, which was not only a quarterly record, but also exceeded total annual production in both 2020 and 2019. For the year, total SBC loan originations and acquisitions were $4.9 billion, representing 2.5x growth over 2020. 2:54 In our small business lending business, fourth quarter originations of SBA 7(a) loans equalled $136 million, capping a record $481 million in total 2021 production, more than double 2020. Combined with our residential merchant cash advance, real estate equity and multifamily affordable housing channels, total 2021 transaction volume reached a remarkable $10.2 billion. 3:23 I would like to highlight some of the factors which contributed to our growth. First is our differentiated product offering, which provides sponsors with financing across the full life cycle of an SBC property from construction to stabilization. This model allows us to pivot as markets move. It also allows us to capture a larger portion of the economics as properties move to stabilization and develop broader relationships with our sponsors and brokers. For the quarter, in our lead product, transitional lending, we originated $1.5 billion, comprising 91% multifamily priced to a 12% retained yield. And with an average as is LTV of 76%. This was supplemented with $98 million of fixed rate and CMBS loans and $29 million in acquisitions. Our prime focus in 2022 will be growing our fixed rate and CMBS programs. 4:21 Second is the ownership of government-sponsored lending businesses, which provide recession-proof gain on sale income have barriers to entry and high ROEs. We closed the year as the sixth largest SBA lender and we'll continue to gain market share with a rollout of new programs, including SBA Express small loan for which we originated $5 million in the quarter and USDA for which we obtained a license. 4:48 In our Freddie Mac business, we closed $169 million in the quarter and climbed to the fifth largest SBL lender. Our Red Stone Freddie Mac affordable housing tax exempt lender originated $444 million in the quarter, significantly outpacing the volume we underwrote when we acquired the business in the second quarter. 5:07 Third is disciplined growth of our equity capital base. In 2021, our equity capital increased 54% to $1.3 billion, comprising $240 million in M&A and $167 million in common and preferred equity issuance. Compared to the traditional mREIT equity growth strategies or secondary issuance, we continue to support growth in our SBC market share through accretive M&A including the fourth quarter signing of the $550 million merger with mosaic real estate credit. 5:40 Fourth is human capital. In 2021, a we added 83 full-time employees with a focus on front-end sales, production and credit, including a national sales manager and head of strategic partnerships. These senior hires cement our strategy of realigning the business with a focus on front-end production and efficient credit processes to improve loan pull-through and processing rates. 6:04 Finally, our securitization franchise is evident in tight credit spreads versus the bellwether names in the CMBS market. Since inception, we have issued nearly $9 billion of transactions across 31 issues, including a record $2.4 billion in 2021. In the fourth quarter, we closed our largest CLO to date, ranking as the fifth largest CLO issuer in 2021. As an established issuer, we have access to match funded non-recourse financing, helping drive our dividend yield premium to our CREIT peer group. 6:39 Our 2022 budgeted issuance exceeds 2021 kicking off with our ACRE, CLO a $1.2 billion offering in the upcoming weeks. A hallmark of Ready Capital has been a culture of credit discipline and our market share gains have been achieved by process and data-driven improvements in product and sector focus without aggressive credit underwriting. This credit discipline is evident in a 60-day plus delinquency rate in our SBC and SBA portfolios of only 1.2%. Further, high-risk assets rated four or five on our one to five risk rating scale declined 22 basis points to 5.4% of our SBC portfolio and remained consistent at 7.5% of our SBA portfolio 7:29 Now Ready Capital is uniquely positioned regarding the impact of rising rates and widening credit spreads on mREIT dividend yield and book value. First, 78% of our portfolio was floating rate at year-end. Additionally, 70% of the CRE floating rate portfolio comprises 2021 vintage with LIBOR floors averaging 19 basis points. So while we benefited from a weighted average floor of 215 at the beginning of the pandemic as rates move lower, the current average of 50 basis points will place pressure on short-term margins, but positions us well with more substantial movements, upward movements in rates. 8:07 Second is our asset liability structure. At year-end, only 5% of our debt comprised QSIPs pledged under short-term repo. Additionally, at year-end, 58% of the portfolio is match funded through securitization with only 30% of our current warehouse inventory comprising fixed rate loans, which are fully hedged. 8:27 Lastly, we made significant headway last year in securing fixed rate corporate borrowings, adding $575 million of additional secured debt, unsecured debt and preferred equity. In total, as proven in the COVID recession, Ready Capital's business model is highly resilient to rising macro risks from tightening monetary policy. Higher capital costs from spread widening on senior securitized debt tranches would likely be offset by earnings accretion from rising rates and widening asset yields in a less competitive SBC sector. 9:05 I also want to provide a quick update on the mosaic transaction. As we highlighted on our last call, the merger with mosaic furthers Ready Capital's competitive advantage via a seamless expansion in our product mix from heavy transitional bridge to construction lending and is accretive to earnings. Pending shareholder approval, we expect the transaction to close in the third week in March. 9:29 Finally, in terms of outlook, we're off to a strong start in 2022. Through the third week of February, we have originated $663 million of SBC loans and $33 million of SBA loans and have a current money up pipeline of $1.3 billion across all products. We expect near-term earnings to be elevated as the tailwinds from PPP are recognized over the next two quarters before a reversion to our 10% to 11% target ROE via the continued growth in our loan servicing -- loan and servicing portfolio as well as expansion of our gain on sale businesses. 10:06 So with that, I'll turn it over to Andrew.