Business Description

Overview Ladder Capital is an investment grade-rated, internally-managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that is a leader in commercial real estate finance. We originate and invest in a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate and real estate-related assets, focusing on senior secured assets. Our investment activities include: (i) our primary business of originating senior first mortgage fixed and floating rate loans collateralized by commercial real estate with flexible loan structures; (ii) owning and operating commercial real estate, including net leased commercial properties; and (iii) investing in investment grade securities secured by first mortgage loans on commercial real estate. We believe that our in-house origination platform, ability to flexibly allocate capital among complementary product lines, credit-centric underwriting approach, access to diversified financing sources, and experienced management team position us well to deliver attractive returns on equity to our shareholders through economic and credit cycles. Our businesses, including balance sheet lending, conduit lending, securities investments, and real estate investments, provide for a stable base of net interest and rental income. We have originated $31.3 billion of commercial real estate loans from our inception in October 2008 through December 31, 2025. During this timeframe, we also acquired $16.0 billion of predominantly investment grade-rated securities secured by first mortgage loans on commercial real estate and $2.2 billion of selected net leased and other real estate assets. As part of our commercial mortgage lending operations, we originate conduit loans, which are first mortgage loans on stabilized, income producing commercial real estate properties that we intend to make available for sale in commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) securitizations. From our inception in October 2008 through December 31, 2025, we originated $17.0 billion of conduit loans, of which $16.9 billion were sold into 75 CMBS securitizations, making us, by volume, one of the largest non-bank contributors of loans to CMBS securitizations in the United States in such period. Our sales of loans into securitizations are generally accounted for as true sales, not financings, and we generally retain no ongoing interest in loans which we securitize unless we are required to do so as issuer pursuant to the risk retention requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, as amended, (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). The securitization of conduit loans enables us to reinvest our equity capital into new loan originations or allocate it to other investments. We maintain a diversified and flexible financing strategy supporting our investment strategy and overall business operations, including the use of senior unsecured notes, non-recourse, non-mark-to-market Collateralized Loan Obligations (“CLO”) debt issuances and committed term financing from leading financial institutions. Refer to “Our Financing Strategies” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources” for further information. Ladder was founded in October 2008 and we completed our initial public offering in February 2014. We are led by a disciplined and highly aligned management team. As of December 31, 2025, our management team and directors held interests in our Company comprising over 11% of our total equity. On average, our management team members have over 29 years of experience in the industry. Our management team includes Brian Harris, Chief Executive Officer; Pamela McCormack, President; Paul J. Miceli, Chief Financial Officer; Robert Perelman, Head of Asset Management; and Kelly Porcella, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel. Anthony V. Esposito, Chief Accounting Officer, and Stephanie Lin, Assistant Secretary, are additional officers of Ladder. 2 Table of Contents Our Businesses We invest primarily in loans, securities and other interests in U.S. commercial real estate, with a focus on senior secured assets. Our complementary business segments are designed to provide us with the flexibility to opportunistically allocate capital in order to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns under varying market conditions. The following chart summarizes our investment portfolio as of December 31, 2025 ($ in thousands): (1) CRE equity asset amounts represent undepreciated asset values. There are a number of factors that influence our operating results.…