NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CIBC Innovation Banking is pleased to announce the lead arrangement of a $150 million syndicated debt financing for New York-based VTS, a leading provider of commercial real estate software. VTS will use the capital to accelerate investments in its strategic product road map, M&A, and global market expansion.

VTS’s leasing and asset management software offers landlords and brokers one place to track all of their leases, assets, and tenants through an easy-to-use, intuitive platform that empowers commercial real estate professionals to work smarter, not harder.

“VTS’s platform brings innovation to the commercial real estate sector by unlocking critical insights and reporting capabilities,” said Caroline Tkatschow, Director in CIBC Innovation Banking’s New York office. “We are excited to be working with VTS’s management team and support their company’s continued domestic and global growth.”

VTS was founded by real estate professionals who have experienced the challenges facing today’s landlords and brokers first-hand. The platform is trusted by over 45,000 brokers and asset managers around the globe to manage over 12 billion square feet of commercial property.

“The CIBC Innovation Banking team has provided incredible support to our team at VTS as we continue to expand our business,” said Bob Bies, Chief Financial Officer of VTS. “We’re grateful for their assistance which will enable our immediate market growth plans and accelerate our product initiatives.”

VTS is also backed by Insight Partners, OpenView, Trinity and Bessemer Venture Partners, among others.

About CIBC Innovation Banking

CIBC Innovation Banking delivers strategic advice, cash management and funding to innovation companies across North America, the UK, and select European countries at each stage of their business cycle, from start up to IPO and beyond. With offices in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, London, Menlo Park, Montreal, New York, Reston, Toronto and Vancouver, the team has extensive experience and a strong, collaborative approach that extends across CIBC’s commercial banking and capital markets businesses in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and select European markets.

About VTS

VTS is commercial real estate’s leading leasing, marketing, asset management, and tenant experience platform where the industry comes to make deals happen and real-time data comes to life. The VTS Platform captures the largest first-party data source in the industry, which delivers real-time insights that fuel faster, more informed decision making and connections throughout the deal and asset lifecycle. VTS Data, the industry’s only forward-looking market dataset, and VTS Market and Marketplace, the industry’s first integrated online marketing solution, give landlords, brokers, and tenants unparalleled visibility into real-time market information and the direct connectivity to execute deals with greater speed and intelligence at every point in the planning, marketing, leasing, and asset management cycle. VTS Rise is the industry’s most comprehensive tenant experience solution, offering occupiers, building operators, and visitors an immersive, tech-enabled experience. More than 60 percent of Class A office space in the US and 12 billion square feet of office, retail, and industrial real estate globally is managed on the VTS platform. VTS’ user base includes over 45,000 CRE professionals including respected industry leaders like Blackstone, Brookfield Properties, LaSalle Investment Management, Hines, Boston Properties, Oxford Properties, JLL, and CBRE. To learn more about VTS, and to see our open roles, visit www.vts.com.

Contacts

Josh Burleton, josh.burleton@cibc.com, 416-304-2712

This innovative program is designed to generate significant sales and revenue for SNAP Home Finance Dealers while changing the competitive landscape of the home renovation financing industry.

TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SNAP Home Finance officially launches the SNAP All-Star Alliance – a proprietary program designed to generate significantly more leads, sales, and revenue for SNAP Home Finance dealers across various industry verticals. The SNAP All-Star Alliance is the first of its kind in Canada and represents a substantial advantage for participating Canadian dealers.

SNAP Home Finance generates thousands of new leads for All-Star Alliance members and the experience for them is effortless. Through an integrated marketing approach with highly engaging content, members receive qualified, pre-approved, leads from SNAP Home Finance.

Every prospect that enters the ecosystem is pre-screened according to a set of comprehensive criteria and receives a customized experience based on the needs of each All-Star Alliance member, including pricing, intake forms, questionnaires, and agent scripts. Pre-approved leads are then booked by SNAP Home Finance through an integrated management system.

“In my 16 years in the Home Improvement Finance industry, I haven’t seen a more innovative program. We’re focused on helping our dealers generate record-breaking growth, and the SNAP All-Star Alliance is a perfect example of a program designed to do exactly that. We’re already generating thousands of highly motivated prospects for All-Star Alliance members, without them having to put in any extra work,” said Kevin Stout, Senior Executive Vice President of Sales of SNAP Home Finance. “This is a groundbreaking program in the home renovation financing space and is a gamechanger for our dealer network.”

“This program represents a significant strategic shift for us,” added Stout. “We are laser-focused on transforming the B2C infrastructure that we have developed over time to generate exactly what our valued dealers want – more sales and revenue.”

The SNAP All-Star Alliance is exclusively brought to Canadian dealers by SNAP Home Finance. Dealers looking to learn more can contact their Business Development Manager or visit www.snap4home.com/all-star-alliance/.

With more than $1.7 billion home improvement loans to thousands of Canadians from coast to coast, SNAP Home Finance provides consumers with innovative financing solutions to modernize their residential properties, while proudly delivering industry-leading dealer experience and support. SNAP Home Finance knows that its dealers are its greatest asset.

Contacts

For more information about SNAP Home Finance or the All-Star Alliance, contact:

Jacob Watson

VP Marketing

(647) 296-5160

JWatson@snapfinancial.com

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#agentcount—Keller Williams (“KW”), the world’s largest real estate technology franchise by agent count, reports Q4 ’21 and year-end results, having achieved significant growth, technology milestones, and topped franchise and corporate culture rankings.

“In the midst of a hypercompetitive market, 2021 was absolutely a record-breaking year for us,” said Carl Liebert, CEO of kwx. “With historically low inventory rates, finding a home has been really challenging in the last year.”

“And so we’re extremely pleased to report that our agents changed 1.3 million lives in 2021,” said Liebert. “We brought 1.3 million people home.”

Keller Williams is home to 173,274 agents in the United States and Canada and 14,847 agents operating outside of the United States and Canada, for a total of 188,121 agents worldwide, as of December 31, 2021.

“We track 42 measurements of production at KW and in 2021 we set all-time records in 21 of those metrics,” said Marc King, president, KW. “And, we’re very proud to report our gross commission income per agent reached $77.8 thousand in the fourth quarter of 2021, which is a 72% increase over the last decade.”

“Right now, the median agent gross income in our industry for real estate agents is $43,330,” said King. “When you’re doing the right things, everyone wins.”

Corporate and Industry Highlights

• In October, Forbes ranked KW on its annual list of World’s Best Employers 2021.
• In October, KW won an Inman Innovator award for ‘Podcast of the Year 2021.’
• In October, Franchise Times featured KW on its annual list of Top 400 Franchises 2021.
• In October, Franchise Business Review featured KW on its list of Best Franchises for Veterans 2021.
• In October, KW and Hergenrother Realty Group partnered to launch Livian, a people-first real estate platform for high-producing expansion teams.
• In October, KW announced a strategic collaboration with Sisu to power coaching dashboards within Command.
• In October, KW announced an expansion into Suriname.
• In November, KW unveiled the KW School of Real Estate (KSCORE), a national, first-of-its-kind, fully-digital real estate training program, in partnership with Kaplan.
• In November, KW unveiled KW Military, to recognize, honor and provide focused value to the U.S. military community via a robust suite of real estate and financial services.
• In November, Forbes ranked KW on its annual World’s Top Female-Friendly Companies 2021.
• In December, KW announced an expansion into São Paulo, Brazil, amid worldwide momentum.
• In December, KW announced a major expansion of its community-based business initiative.
• In December, KW launched the Command App for all KW agents.

“We continue to aggressively innovate on behalf of our market centers, agents and consumers,” said Chris Cox, chief technology and digital officer, kwx, the holding company of KW. “With the release of Command App in December, we’re again seeking to further empower our agents with real-time actionable insights to drive their businesses’ growth.”

“In the 75 days since launch, we’ve seen incredible adoption from our agents,” said Cox.

United States and Canada (production in Q4 ’21)

• Agents closed 331.9 thousand transactions in Q4 ’21, down 5.4% over Q4 ’20.
• Agents closed almost $138.9 billion in sales volume, up 11.5% from Q4 last year.
• Agents took 147.8 thousand new listings (new market inventory), down 5.8% over Q4 ’20.
• Agents wrote 337.9 thousand contracts (projected closings), down 4.2% over Q4 ’20.
• Contracts written volume was $141.3 billion, up 13.1% over Q4 ’20.

United States and Canada (production year-end 2021)

• As of December 31, agents closed more than 1.3 million transactions, up 9.9% over YTD ’20.
• Agents closed $532.2 billion in sales volume, up 30.6% over YTD ’20.
• Agents took 728.9 thousand new listings (new market inventory), up 2.2% over YTD ’20.
• Agents wrote 1.5 million contracts (projected closings), up 7.8% over YTD ’20.
• Contracts written volume was $576.6 billion, up 28.1% over YTD ’20.

“We are very proud of our continuing market share gains in the U.S. and Canada, while we declined slightly in transactions and new listings – that’s more indicative of the base effect of Q4 ’20,” said Jason Abrams, head of industry, kwx. “The COVID shutdowns in early 2020 allowed for a significant influx of pent-up housing demand to hit our agents in Q4 of 2020.”

“As a result, our ongoing market share gains can best be seen in our year-end results and by comparing our Q4 ’21 to our Q4 ’19 benchmarks,” said Abrams. “Compared to Q4 ’19, across the U.S. and Canada, our agents increased our homes sold and new listings up 21.8% and 2.2%, respectively.”

Keller Williams Worldwide (KWW) Momentum (production outside U.S. and Canada in Q4 ’21)

• As of December 31, agent count outside the U.S. and Canada was 14,847, up 23.0% from Q4 ’20.
• Agents closed 18.9 thousand transactions in Q4 ’21, up 35.9% over Q4 ’20.
• Agents closed $3.6 billion in sales volume, up 48.2% from Q4 ’20.
• Agents took 24.5 thousand new listings (new market inventory), up 4.4% over Q4 ’20.
• Agents wrote 21.4 thousand contracts (projected closings), up 25.5% over Q4 ’20.
• Contracts written volume was $3.0 billion, up 40.6% over Q4 ’20.

KWW Momentum (production outside U.S. and Canada year-end 2021)

• As of December 31, agents closed 63.6 thousand transactions, up 57.8% over YTD ’20.
• Agents closed $12.1 billion in sales volume, up 88.7% over YTD ’20.
• Agents took 107.8 thousand new listings (new market inventory), up 17.6% over YTD ’20.
• Agents wrote 74.6 thousand contracts (projected closings), up 46.6% over YTD ’20.
• Contracts written volume was $10.9 billion, up 69.9% over YTD ’20.

“No one predicted the challenges of 2021, yet our international operations are thriving and we’re growing at a faster clip than ever,” said William E. Soteroff, president, KWW. “And, that’s due to a steadfast commitment to our values and principles and to providing the industry’s best agent training.”

Outside of the U.S. and Canada, KWW’s regions include: Albania; Argentina; Aruba; Belgium; Belize; Bermuda; Cambodia; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Dominican Republic; Dubai, UAE; France; Greece; Honduras; Indonesia; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Luxembourg; Malaysia; Mexico; Monaco; Mongolia; Morocco; Nicaragua; Northern Cyprus; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Romania; São Paulo, Brazil; Serbia; Sint Maarten; Slovenia; Southern Africa; Spain; Suriname; Thailand; Turkey; Turks and Caicos; United Kingdom; Uruguay; and Vietnam.

About Keller Williams

Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams, the world’s largest real estate technology franchise by agent count, has more than 1,100 offices and 200,000 associates. The franchise is also No. 1 in units and sales volume in the United States. kwx is the holding company of Keller Williams.

In 2020, Keller Williams initially began the formation of kwx. kwx is composed of Keller Williams, Keller Williams Worldwide and Keller Home Financial Services, consisting of Keller Mortgage, Keller Offers, Keller Covered, Keller Title and The Partnership Program.

Since 1983, the company has cultivated an agent-centric, technology-driven and education-based culture that rewards agents as stakeholders. For more information, visit kwx.kw.com.

Contacts

Media Contact:

Darryl G. Frost

Director of Public Relations and Media Relations

darryl.frost@kw.com / 254-466-3627

MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#CapitalCommitments–H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative asset management firm with over $47 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce the closing of its fourth U.S. Realty Partners fund, H.I.G. Realty Partners IV (the “Fund”). The Fund closed with aggregate capital commitments of $838 million, exceeding its target.* The Fund will continue to pursue the successful investment strategy employed by its predecessor funds and target mid-cap assets with gross asset values (“GAV”) typically less than $200 million, primarily in the major markets of the U.S. The Fund has already made nine investments.

Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer, H.I.G. Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, commented: “We are very proud of the continued success of the H.I.G. Realty team and their differentiated, value-add strategy focused on the mid-cap segment of the U.S. real estate market. The support from our limited partners validates our conviction in the team’s ability to execute on the Fund’s investment strategy.”

David Hirschberg and Ira Weidhorn, Co-Heads of H.I.G. Realty Partners, added: “We are excited to expand upon H.I.G.’s successful value-add real estate strategy with the closing of H.I.G. Realty Partners IV. We continue to source unique investment opportunities across the real estate asset class spectrum, benefiting from H.I.G.’s scale and operational synergies, and creating a meaningful competitive advantage for us.”

Jordan Peer Griffin, Executive Managing Director and Global Head of H.I.G. Capital Formation, added: “The Fund received tremendous support from our global investor base, allowing us to complete a mostly virtual fundraising process. The Fund is comprised of a diverse group of leading real estate investors including foundations, endowments, public and corporate pensions, consultants, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.”

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global alternative assets investment firm with over $47 billion of equity capital under management.** Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:

	1.	H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
	2.	H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
	3.	H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
	4.	H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

* Aggregate capital commitments include co-investment capital.

** Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

 

Contacts

David Hirschberg

Co-Head of H.I.G. Realty Partners

dhirschberg@higcapital.com

Ira Weidhorn

Co-Head of H.I.G. Realty Partners

iweidhorn@higcapital.com

Jordan Peer Griffin

Executive Managing Director

jpeer@higcapital.com

www.higcapital.com