Ares, Makarora Tap Surging CMBS Market For $1.5B Plymouth Portfolio Refi
Weeks after acquiring Plymouth Industrial REIT in a $2.1B take-private deal, Ares Alternative Credit and Makarora Management are lining up a $1.46B CMBS refinance of the acquisition debt.
Citi Real Estate, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are slated to co-originate the loan on or around Feb. 26, according to a Kroll Bond Rating Agency presale report. Loan proceeds will refinance the balance sheet debt the joint venture received from Citi when the pair closed the Plymouth acquisition in late January, as well as fund reserves and pay closing costs.
The refinancing agreement does not include the $660M in equity the joint venture contributed to the deal. The floating rate loan has a two-year term with three one-year extension options. It requires monthly interest-only payments at 1.7% above the secured overnight financing rate.
The debt will be secured by 145 industrial properties comprising 227 individual buildings and a total of 32.1M SF. The properties are spread across 11 states, the largest of which are Ohio (36.9% of allocated loan amount), Tennessee (15.4%), Indiana (12.4%), Georgia (11.2%) and Florida (11%), according to KBRA.
The top five metropolitan statistical areas in the portfolio are Memphis, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; Cleveland; Cincinnati; and Indianapolis.
“Plymouth’s portfolio of cost-competitive industrial assets in the Midwest and East Coast is strategically located within a day’s drive of 70% of the U.S. population,” Makarora founder and Chief Investment Officer Chad Pike said in an October statement. “These properties are well positioned to capitalize on strong industrial demand from these major population centers.”
Distribution centers account for the lion's share of the properties in the portfolio, at 74.1% by square feet. Light manufacturing makes up 15.7%, while small bay is 7.8% and flex space is 2.4%. As of December 2025, the portfolio was 92.3% leased to over 500 unique tenants.
Ares and Makarora are taking to the CMBS market as its lending is on pace for a record year.
The CMBS market started 2026 on a promising note, with eight transactions totaling $8B in January, up 40% from the prior year, according to Trepp. In the first half of February, an additional nine deals totaling $9B came to market, almost double the total raised in the first two months of 2023.
