Mr. Gesner has over 25 years experience as a business lawyer and focuses his practice on the structuring and negotiating of complex financing transactions. He represents institutional clients, including Fannie Mae, the largest source of financing for home mortgages in the nation in structured financing transactions. He regularly serves as counsel on transactions involving the financing of pools of assets located throughout the country with a particular emphasis on multi-family projects, and in the development of lending programs. In addition Mr. Gesner works on projects involving many other aspects of real estate transactions including purchase and sale, development and entity formation. He also has an active practice in corporate acquisitions and dispositions. Significant Matters Mr. Gesner is assisting Fannie Mae in the securitization of multi-family loans purchased for cash. Mr. Gesner represented the senior lenders in the successful writing of a troubled portfolio involving multiple layers of mezzanine financing. Mr. Gesner represented Fannie Mae in the two largest multifamily transaction ever undertaken by Fannie Mae. Mr. Gesner led the team representing Fannie Mae in the purchase of loans made in connection with the privatization of a major REIT. The transaction, involving more than $7 billion, was secured by over 100 properties.The second transaction, having a value of over $3.5 billion, involved the purchase of loans from major financial institutions and was secured by 244 seniors properties. Mr. Gesner has completed transactions involving the swap of over $2 billion Fannie Mae securities for loans secured for multi-family properties and during the past three years was lead counsel on other transactions involving over $6.0 billion of financing. Other noteworthy matters include the structuring and supervision of commercial, retail and multifamily loan programs on behalf of Lenders, representation of Fannie Mae in connection with the change of ownership of Fannie Mae-approved DUS lenders; representation of a life insurance corporation in restructuring its investment in an office and retail project; representation of a multinational corporation in the divestiture of non-core businesses; a mezzanine lender for senior living and assisted living facilities; a super-regional bank as borrower to avoid federal takeover of the institution; a major law firm in negotiation of office lease for firm's Washington, DC office; a land owner in the sale of Washington area property to a foreign government; and serving as Washington, DC counsel to the trustee for the estate of one of the largest law firm bankruptcies in the United States. Activities Mr. Gesner served for eight years as Chairman of the Board of Directors of an Anne Arundel County, Maryland community association and is a regular speaker at industry conferences and seminars. News January 5, 2012, Daniel Danello, Veteran Finance and Capital Markets Attorney at Fannie Mae and Sallie Mae, Joins Venable in Washington September 14, 2011, 75 Venable attorneys listed in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 August 23, 2010, 65 Venable attorneys receive 2011 Best Lawyers honors November 5, 2009, Best Lawyers recognizes 24 Washington-area Venable attorneys in Washington Post supplement August 25, 2008, Fifty-nine Venable Attorneys Earn Best Lawyers in America Honors September 12, 2007, Fifty-five Venable Attorneys Earn Best Lawyers in America Honors October 2, 2006, Forty-Seven Venable Lawyers Cited Among The Best Lawyers in America April 27, 2006, Seventeen Venable Lawyers Cited Among "Best Lawyers in America" in the Washington Area Honors Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, (Woodward/White, Inc.) AV® Peer-Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell |