Timothy Johnson

Chairman of the Board, Global Head of BREDS & Senior MD, Blackstone

Search every verified Timothy Johnson interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2015 appearance at the NYU Capital Markets conference, Timothy Johnson, then Managing Director and Head of U.S. Originations at Blackstone, discussed the firm's focus on transitional real estate lending. He stated that Blackstone had positioned itself to compete in balance sheet lending, where risk is retained on the book, rather than in the CMBS market. Johnson explained that the firm had avoided the CMBS origination business because it requires distribution capabilities that he said fit better in a bank than at Blackstone. Johnson noted that competition in transitional real estate lending had not increased dramatically, as Blackstone was primarily competing against banks whose book structures had remained stable. He attributed this partly to regulatory changes that, in his view, made it harder for banks to conduct such lending on their balance sheets, citing GE's exit from the business as an example. Johnson added that pricing for high-quality loans continued to tighten as banks sought safe investments, but he expressed confidence in Blackstone's ability to underwrite more complex transitional deals.