Five Buy 50% Stake in Newmark Realty

Five Southern California mortgage professionals have purchased a 50% interest in San Francisco-based Newmark Realty Capital Inc. and opened offices in Los Angeles and Irvine.

Newmark is a commercial mortgage banking and investment firm that arranges financing for real estate investors. The new principals are Peter Welsh, Mark Ritchie, George Mitsanas, G. Thomas Dudley Jr. and Braden Turnbull, all of whom previously held senior executive positions at Los Angeles-based Churchill Mortgage Corp.

Newmark would not say how much the new principals paid for their share of the company. The company expects to fund $750 million of investments annually in Southern California.

-- Roger Vincent