Citibank's planned commercial mortgage-backed securities deal has been shelved after PNC Real Estate Finance withdrew its collateral. PNC was slated to contribute roughly $600 million of loans to the $1.9 billion deal but pulled out over concerns that a large portion of the bonds might not have been sold due to the current liquidity crunch. The deal was the last planned securitization of the year.
"People don't know if there is enough liquidity," one investor said. PNC, which does not own many CMBS bonds, was cold to the idea of unsold securities ending up back on its balance sheet. The bank instead opted to hold the loans on its balance sheet.
The move derailed Citibank's plans as it was close to selling the b-piece on the deal to CW Capital. The deal is now said to be shelved indefinitely. Officials at Citibank did not comment by press time and officials at CW Capital declined to comment. Calls to Diana Reid, executive v.p. and head of PNC Real Estate were referred to a spokesman, who declined to comment. --Sarika Gangar
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