Deal bolsters Eastern’s client base, real estate market expertise


BOSTON, Mass., Aug. 2, 2001 – Eastern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Boston, has acquired Fantini & Gorga Incorporated, a Boston-based commercial mortgage and real estate investment banking firm, Eastern announced today.

Eastern will merge Fantini & Gorga into its own commercial mortgage operation, creating Fantini & Gorga/iCap Realty Advisors. In February, Eastern helped create iCap Realty Advisors LLC, a commercial mortgage firm that operates in 20 markets from coast to coast.

With the acquisition of Fantini & Gorga, Eastern has strengthened its place in the Greater Boston commercial real estate market. In the first six months of 2001, Eastern’s iCap Realty unit closed $60 million in equity and debt placement for commercial clients. Nationally, iCap has closed more than $1 billion during that period.

“We’re delighted to have Fantini & Gorga join Eastern Bank,” said Stanley J. Lukowski, Eastern’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “George Fantini and John Gorga are among the top names in the commercial real estate finance business, which will further bolster our presence and performance in the market.”

Eastern purchased a majority interest in Fantini & Gorga. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. George J. Fantini Jr. will continue as chairman of Fantini & Gorga/iCap Realty Advisors, while John Gorga will still serve as president. The new operation will be located at Fantini & Gorga’s current offices at 150 Federal St. in Boston.

“To remain competitive, we needed to join a larger organization that had a national platform to serve our borrowers and lenders,” Fantini said. “Eastern Bank’s commercial real estate operation has the size and the scope we needed, not to mention one of the best customer service records in the business.”

Aside from a new name and broader scope of products, it is business as usual for Fantini & Gorga’s existing customers, Fantini said.

John Gorga said, “While we have enjoyed success as a boutique firm, we welcome the benefits that Eastern’s and iCap’s national reach can bring to our clients.”

Ross Berman, President of Chicago-based iCap Realty Advisors, LLC, said he is pleased the deal expands iCap’s market penetration within the Boston and New England markets, and is especially pleased with the caliber of the personnel that the Fantini & Gorga merger brings to iCap. “The entrepreneurial culture that has traditionally been a hallmark of Fantini & Gorga should allow their impact within the firm to reach far beyond their New England base,” Berman said.

Fantini & Gorga’s current staff of managing directors will remain in place, including Tim O’Donnell, whose firm was merged into Fantini & Gorga 18 months ago. John Sullivan, who was a managing director in Eastern’s iCap Boston office, will join the combined firm at its Federal Street office.

Eastern Bank is a $3.6 billion full-service banking company with 46 offices in Eastern Massachusetts. Eastern’s lines of business include consumer banking, corporate lending, capital markets, small business banking, cash management, equipment leasing, private banking, trust and investment management, mortgage banking, and consumer finance.

Fantini & Gorga/iCap Realty Advisors specializes in the structuring and placement of financing for all types of existing and planned commercial real estate projects. It focuses on serving the capital requirements of New England borrowers. Debt and equity are arranged with banks, insurance companies, pension funds, credit companies and opportunity funds. For more information, visit www.iCapRealty.com.

For more information, contact: Joe Bartolotta, Public Relations Director, Eastern Bank,
(781) 596-4411, or e-mail Joe Bartolotta.