FEATURE
How Arixa Capital Turned a Pandemic Year Into One of its Best Yet MORTGAGE FUNDS RECORD A RESILIENT YEAR AMID UNCERTAINTY FOR TRADITIONAL LENDERS
L
By Emily Rappleye, Contributing Writer for Originate Report ooking back almost a year
of Arixa Capital. “It was pretty
were stopped, and when Wall Street
later,
frightening because all of us were so
firms reopened, the rates were
unsure about what happened next.”
relatively inaccessible. This sent
March
2020
feels
surreal. A cruise ship off the
coast of California was held at sea when passengers tested positive for
Arixa
Capital
had
hundreds
of
COVID-19; the NBA suspended its
millions of dollars in loans on their
season; the coronavirus pandemic
balance sheet. Would those loans be
was declared a worldwide emergency
impaired? Would they lose value?
— all in the span of a few days. Then,
Would collateral lose value? Would
for many industries, the bottom
people make interest payments? Could
fell out.
construction projects continue?
Arixa Capital, a West Coast private
“The stock market was plummeting
lender and investment management
…and people were getting margin
firm, spent the remaining days of
calls. There were those two or
March 2020 trying to right the ship
three weeks where nobody really
in a sea of uncertainty and anxiety
understood how far and how fast
about what the pandemic meant for
this thing could go,” Hebner said.
many companies scrambling to find new capital, often straight into the arms of mortgage fund managers. Mortgage funds, like those managed by Arixa Capital, proved better able to protect lenders from the pandemic-induced market volatility. Because of this, and a few other strategic choices, this is where Arixa Capital’s 2020 story diverges from many others. Since COVID-19 hit last year, Arixa Capital has not had a single loan go
real estate investing. The uncertainty put strains on repo
into default. The firm never missed
“On March 12th, the world was
market liquidity, and traditional loan
a draw and never missed a draw
normal; on March 13th, it wasn’t,”
buyers put purchases on hold. Loans
inspection. They expanded their
said Greg Hebner, managing director
that had already been originated
team, and they added more new
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