WHAT WE DO
An integrated real estate credit platform, built by operators.
Scythian Capital Management is an integrated commercial real estate credit platform focused on the lower and middle market. The firm was designed around a single premise: originating, acquiring, and servicing loans are most effective when managed together.
Anuj Gupta and Tim Geraghty founded Scythian to bring operational discipline to a segment that rewards it. Their approach is built on more than three decades of institutional experience across GE Capital, Deutsche Bank, and Waterfall Asset Management, refined through multiple market cycles, and shaped by lessons learned from building lending businesses inside larger firms.
A comprehensive ecosystem, not a single strategy.
While many credit managers run one playbook, Scythian is structured with flexibility. Different market environments require different strategies, and our platform combines complementary business lines to capitalize on changing economic environments.
Our ecosystem strategy pairs capital-intensive lending, including bridge origination and third-party loan acquisitions, with capital-light, government-licensed businesses that generate fee income independent of balance sheet risk. When credit tightens, the fee side is designed to keep cash flowing. When it loosens, deployment accelerates. The mix enables Scythian to reallocate as conditions change, rather than simply absorb market shifts.
Alongside the lending and acquisition businesses, in-house servicing keeps the platform close to every loan through payoff. This facilitates consistent surveillance from underwriting through payoff or resolution.
The business behind the business.
Scythian is a new platform, but the Founders’ experience is vast.
Anuj and Tim have spent more than three decades at prior firms building commercial real estate lending platforms, leading teams of 100+ people, and guiding businesses through multiple market cycles. The platforms they oversaw and developed at prior firms have originated and acquired over $19 billion in CRE debt.
The GE Capital chapter.
Anuj led GE’s growth effort into originations for off-balance sheet programs and created, oversaw, and grew a middle market CRE origination program at GE Capital to $4.4 billion in volume from 2003 to 2007.
He also oversaw GE Real Estate’s CMBS platform originating over $3.6 billion in large-loans during the Global Financial Crisis with targeted hedging strategies.
During the Global Financial Crisis, Anuj was on the Investment Committee and led a team as part of a fund Joint Venture with Angelo Gordon & Co., the U.S. Department of Treasury and private investors seeking to stabilize the market by purchasing CMBS and RMBS securities. During this time, he developed a system to assess the probability of default and estimate the value of the underlying real estate for over 19,000 loans within 100 CMBS pools.
The Waterfall chapter.
At Waterfall Asset Management, Anuj and Tim built significant capital markets infrastructure for the firm’s $25 billion portfolio, overseeing and executing almost 60 securitization transactions totaling over $30 billion, 11 corporate debt transactions totaling over $1.4 billion and various other warehouse and portfolio financings.
They also founded, developed and led an ecosystem of capital-heavy and capital-light origination businesses that grew into a large public REIT. The 100+ person real estate debt origination business built from the ground-up included Bridge, Freddie Mac Small Balance and Fixed-Rate loan programs that originated over $16 billion in loans prior to their exit.
Anuj and Tim also oversaw the strategic acquisition of several businesses that were complementary to the overall platform strategy, such as SBA and Tax-Exempt debt lending, which both became over $1 billion per year annual origination businesses.
The acquisitions business record.
In addition to originations, Anuj and Tim, in senior leadership roles at prior firms, have sourced, negotiated, and closed more than $3 billion in CRE loan portfolio acquisitions. Notable transactions include acquiring $1 billion in loans and securitization residuals from the GE Capital lower middle market divestiture, a $300 million bridge loan portfolio after the Doral Bank failure, and the Owens Realty Mortgage portfolio to address shareholder liquidity needs.
Anuj and Tim possess established relationships with brokerages, specialized advisors and medium size middle-market focused investment banks that lead loan sale assignments for banks and other clients. Over the course of their careers, they have successfully developed teams and processes to identify meaningful transactions that were additive to investment strategies.
Tim and Anuj’s experience across these platforms directly informs Scythian’s structure. Credit discipline is rooted in lessons learned at GE Capital and three decades of experience, capital markets infrastructure draws from Deutsche Bank and Waterfall, and the ecosystem model reflects knowledge across multiple market cycles.
Why it matters.
Scythian is the platform where that broad experience and learnings come together.
