BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE: WD) ("the Company") announced today that it has entered into a joint venture with an affiliate of a fund managed by Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) to form a CMBS lending platform to provide financing for multifamily and commercial real estate properties nationwide. The venture, to be named Walker & Dunlop Commercial Property Funding, LLC, will provide first mortgage loans on all commercial property types. In addition, the venture will originate high yield whole loans, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity. The joint venture will be headquartered in New York City and overseen by Tim Koltermann, a 25-year industry veteran in commercial loan originations, CMBS trading, loan pricing and structuring, and CMBS securitization.

"Walker & Dunlop finished 2012 as the 10th largest commercial real estate lender in the United States and third largest multifamily lender as a major partner to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD," commented Willy Walker, Walker & Dunlop's Chairman and CEO. "This new initiative with Fortress Investment Group allows us to leverage our scaled origination, underwriting, servicing and asset management infrastructure to offer an alternative capital source for all commercial real estate asset classes. Over the past year, Walker & Dunlop has expanded to 20 offices across the country, and this new venture will provide our clients with a significantly diversified proprietary lending platform to meet their financing objectives."

Jeff Goodman, EVP of Walker & Dunlop's proprietary capital group, commented, "We raised Walker & Dunlop's first large-scale, institutionally-backed debt vehicle in August focused on multifamily and seniors housing bridge loans, and have been deploying that capital ever since. The addition of this CMBS and high yield platform, under Tim Koltermann's leadership and in partnership with Fortress, is a terrific step in the continued expansion of Walker & Dunlop's product lines. We expect to issue loan applications as early as January, 2014, and are projecting an initial origination target of $1 billion in the first year of operation."

About Walker & Dunlop
Through its subsidiary Walker & Dunlop, LLC, Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE: WD) is one of the leading commercial real estate finance companies in the United States, with a primary focus on multifamily lending. As a Fannie Mae DUS®, Freddie Mac Program Plus® and MAP- and LEAN-approved FHA lender, the Multifamily and FHA Finance groups are focused on lending to property owners, investors, and developers of multifamily properties across the country. The Capital Markets group specializes in financing commercial real estate for owners and investors across the United States, securing capital from large institutions such as life insurance companies, commercial banks, CMBS lenders, pension funds, and specialty finance companies. The Proprietary Capital group develops new financial products and provides institutional advisory, asset management, and investment management services with respect to debt and equity, including bridge financing. Walker & Dunlop, LLC has more than 400 employees located in 20 offices nationwide. For more information about the Company, please visit www.walkerdunlop.com or follow us on Twitter at @Walkerdunlop.

Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, projections, plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as ''may,'' ''will,'' ''should,'' ''expects,'' ''intends,'' ''plans,'' ''anticipates,'' ''believes,'' ''estimates,'' ''predicts,'' or ''potential'' or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases that are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect our current views about future events and are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed or contemplated in any forward-looking statement.

While forward-looking statements reflect our good faith projections, assumptions and expectations, they are not guarantees of future results. Furthermore, we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes, except as required by applicable law. Factors that could cause our results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: (1) general economic conditions and multifamily and commercial real estate market conditions, (2) regulatory and or legislative changes to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or HUD, (3) our ability to retain and attract loan originators and other professionals, and (4) changes in federal government fiscal and monetary policies, including any constraints or cuts in federal funds allocated to HUD for loan originations.

For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or contemplated in any forward-looking statements, see the section entitled ''Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our subsequent SEC filings. Such filings are available publicly on our Investor Relations web page at www.walkerdunlop.com.

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.