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Related Party Transactions
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions Related Party Transactions
(a)Service Agreements
Newmark receives administrative services, including but not limited to, treasury, legal, accounting, information technology, payroll administration, human resources, incentive compensation plans and other support, provided by Cantor. Allocated expenses were $6.2 million and $5.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. These expenses are included as part of “Fees to related parties” on the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations.

(b)Loans, Forgivable Loans and Other Receivables from Employees and Partners
Newmark has entered into various agreements with certain employees and partners whereby these individuals receive loans which may be either wholly or in part repaid from the distribution of earnings that the individuals receive on some or all of their limited partnership interests or may be forgiven over a period of time. The forgivable portion of these loans is recognized as compensation expense over the life of the loans. From time to time, Newmark may also enter into agreements with employees and partners to grant bonus and salary advances or other types of loans. These advances and loans are repayable in the timeframes outlined in the underlying agreements.

As of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the aggregate balance of employee loans was $444.7 million and $454.3 million, respectively, and is included as “Loans, forgivable loans and other receivables from employees and partners, net” on the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets. Compensation expense for the above-mentioned employee loans for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 was $17.3 million and $14.5 million, respectively. The compensation expense related to these employee loans is included as part of “Compensation and employee benefits” on the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations.

Transfer of Employees to Newmark and Other Related Party Transactions
In connection with the expansion of the mortgage brokerage and lending activities, Newmark has entered into an agreement with Cantor pursuant to which five former employees of Cantor's affiliate, Cantor Commercial Real Estate ("CCRE"), transferred to Newmark, effective as of May 1, 2018. In connection with this transfer of employees, Cantor paid $6.9 million to Newmark in October 2018, and Newmark Holdings issued $6.7 million of limited partnership units and $0.2 million of cash in the form of a cash distribution agreement to the employees. In addition, Newmark Holdings issued $2.2 million of Newmark Holdings partnership units with a capital account and $0.5 million of limited partnership units in exchange
for the cash payment from Cantor to Newmark of $2.2 million. Newmark recorded $6.9 million and $2.2 million as “Stockholders’ equity” and “Redeemable partnership interests”, respectively, on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets.

In consideration for the Cantor payment, Newmark agreed to return up to a maximum of $3.3 million to Cantor based on the employees’ production during their first two years of employment with Newmark. In July 2020, Newmark paid $3.3 million to Cantor based on the employees’ production, satisfying this liability. As of March 31, 2020, Newmark had $3.2 million, included in “Payables to related parties” on the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets, to be returned to Cantor related to this transaction. Newmark has agreed to allow certain of these employees to continue to provide consulting services to Cantor in exchange for a forgivable loan which was directly paid by Cantor to these employees.

In February 2019, Newmark's Audit Committee authorized Newmark and its subsidiaries to originate and service GSE loans for Cantor and its affiliates (other than BGC) and service loans originated by Cantor and its affiliates (other than BGC) on prices, rates and terms no less favorable to Newmark and its subsidiaries than those charged by third parties. The authorization is subject to certain terms and conditions, including but not limited to: (i) a maximum amount up to $100.0 million per loan, (ii) a $250.0 million limit on loans that have not yet been acquired or sold to a GSE at any given time, and (iii) a separate $250.0 million limit on originated Fannie Mae Loans outstanding to Cantor at any given time.

On November 30, 2020, we entered into an arrangement to assist View, Inc. (“View”) in the sale of its products and services to real estate clients in exchange for commissions. View, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based producer of high-efficiency dynamic glass that controls light, heat, and glare, providing unobstructed views and privacy using a low voltage control system. In connection with the arrangement, View also agreed to engage us as its exclusive provider of real estate services for a period of at least five years. While View is not under common control with us, it was, at the time that the agreement was executed, the target of a merger with CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Cantor.

(c)Transactions with CCRE
Newmark has a referral agreement in place with CCRE, in which Newmark’s brokers are incentivized to refer business to CCRE through a revenue-share agreement. Newmark recognized $0.5 million and $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, in connection with this revenue-share agreement.

Newmark also has a revenue-share agreement with CCRE, in which Newmark pays CCRE for referrals for leasing or other services. Newmark did not make any payments under this agreement to CCRE for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

In addition, Newmark has a loan referral agreement in place with CCRE, in which either party can refer a loan to the other. Newmark did not have any revenues from these referrals for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Such revenues are recognized in “Gains from mortgage banking activities/originations, net” on the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations. These referral fees are net of the broker fees and commissions paid to CCRE.

Newmark did not purchase any primary servicing rights during the three months ended March 31, 2021. Newmark purchased the primary servicing rights for $90.7 million of loans originated by CCRE for $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. Newmark also services loans for CCRE on a “fee for service” basis, generally prior to a loan’s sale or securitization, and for which no MSR is recognized. Newmark recognized servicing revenues (excluding interest and placement fees) from servicing rights purchased from CCRE on a “fee for service” basis of $0.9 million and $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, which was included as part of “Management services, servicing fee and other” on the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations.

On July 22, 2019, Cantor Commercial Real Estate Lending, L.P. (“CCRE Lending”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Real Estate LP, made a $146.6 million commercial real estate loan (the “Loan”) to a single-purpose company (the “Borrower”) in which Barry Gosin, Newmark’s Chief Executive Officer, owns a 19% interest. The Loan is secured by the Borrower’s interest in property in Pennsylvania that is subject to a ground lease. While CCRE Lending initially provided the full loan amount, on August 16, 2019, a third-party bank purchased approximately 80% of the Loan value from CCRE Lending, with CCRE Lending retaining approximately 20%. The Loan matures on August 6, 2029, and is payable monthly at a fixed interest rate of 4.38% per annum. Newmark provided certain commercial loan brokerage services to the Borrower in the ordinary course of its business, and the Borrower paid Newmark a fee, as the broker of the Loan, of $0.7 million. The Newmark Audit Committee approved the commercial loan brokerage services and the related fee amount received.
Transactions with Executive Officers and Directors
Executive Compensation
On March 16, 2021, the Company redeemed 30,926 non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PSUs held by Mr. Merkel for zero and in connection therewith issued 28,962 shares of our Class A common stock. On the same day, the Company repurchased these shares from Mr. Merkel at the closing price of our Class A common stock of $11.09 per share under our stock buyback program. The total payment delivered to Mr. Merkel was $321,189, less applicable taxes and withholdings. The Compensation Committee approved these transactions.

On April 27, 2021, the Compensation Committee approved an additional monetization opportunity for Mr. Merkel: (i) 73,387 of Mr. Merkel’s 145,384 non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PSUs were redeemed for zero, (ii) 19,426 of Mr. Merkel’s 86,649 non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PPSUs were redeemed for a cash payment of $173,863, and (iii) 68,727 shares of our Class A common stock were issued to Mr. Merkel. On the same day, the 68,727 shares of our Class A common stock were repurchased from Mr. Merkel at $10.67 per share, the closing price of our Class A common stock on that date, under our stock buyback program. The total payment delivered to Mr. Merkel was $815,878, less applicable taxes and withholdings.

On March 16, 2021, pursuant to the Newmark standing policy for Mr. Lutnick, the Compensation Committee granted exchange rights and/or monetization rights with respect to rights available to Mr. Lutnick. Mr. Lutnick elected to waive such rights one-time with such future opportunities to be cumulative. The aggregate number of Mr. Lutnick’s units for which he waived exchange rights or other monetization rights is 4,423,457 non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PSUs/NPSUs, inclusive of the PSUs receiving an HDU conversion right and 1,770,016 non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PPSUs with an aggregate determination amount of $21,555,069 at that time, inclusive of the PPSUs receiving an HDU conversion right.

On March 16, 2021, the Compensation Committee granted Mr. Gosin exchange rights into shares of Class A common stock with respect to 526,828 previously awarded non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PSUs and 30,871 non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings APSUs held by Mr. Gosin (which, based on the closing price of the Class A common stock of $11.09 per share on such date and using the exchange ratio of 0.9365, had a value of $5,792,139 in the aggregate). In addition, on March 16, 2021, the Compensation Committee approved removing the sale restrictions on Mr. Gosin’s remaining 178,232 restricted shares of Class A common stock in BGC (which were originally issued in 2013) and associated 82,680 remaining restricted shares of Newmark Class A common stock (issued as a result of the Company spin-off in November 2018).

On March 16, 2021, the Compensation Committee granted Mr. Rispoli (i) exchange rights into shares of Class A common stock with respect to 6,043 previously awarded non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PSUs held by Mr. Rispoli (which, based on the closing price of the Class A common stock of $11.09 per share on such date and using the exchange ratio of 0.9365, had a value of $62,758); and (ii) exchange rights into cash with respect to 4,907 previously awarded non-exchangeable Newmark Holdings PPSUs held by Mr. Rispoli (which had an average determination price of $15.57 per unit, for a total of $76,407 in the aggregate to be paid for taxes when (i) is exchanged).

Retirement Fund Purchase
On April 27, 2021, a Keough retirement account held by Mr. Lutnick purchased 5,154 shares of our Class A common stock from us at the closing price of our Class A common stock on that date of $10.67 per share. The transaction was approved by our Audit Committee.

On November 4, 2020, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors authorized entities in which executive officers have a non-controlling interest to engage Newmark to provide ordinary course real estate services to them as long as Newmark’s fees are consistent with the fees that Newmark ordinarily charges for these services.

CF Real Estate Finance Holdings, LP.
Contemporaneously with the acquisition of Berkeley Point, on September 8, 2017, Newmark invested $100.0 million in a newly formed commercial real estate-related financial and investment business, Real Estate LP, which is controlled and managed by Cantor. Real Estate LP may conduct activities in any real estate related business or asset backed securities related business or any extensions thereof and ancillary activities thereto. As of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, Newmark’s investment was accounted for under the equity method (see Note 8 — “Investments”).

Transactions with CF&Co
On June 18, 2018 and September 26, 2018, Newmark entered into transactions related to the monetization of the Nasdaq shares that Newmark expects to receive in 2019 through 2022 (see Note 1 — “Organization and Basis of Presentation”). Newmark paid $4.0 million in fees for services provided by CF&Co related to these monetization transactions. These fees were recorded as a deduction from the carrying amount of the EPUs.
On November 6, 2018, Newmark issued an aggregate of $550.0 million principal amount of 6.125% Senior Notes due 2023. In connection with this issuance of the 6.125% Senior Notes, Newmark paid $0.8 million in underwriting fees to CF&Co.

(d)Other Related Party Transactions
On November 30, 2018, Newmark entered into an unsecured credit agreement with Cantor (the “Cantor Credit Agreement”). The Cantor Credit Agreement provides for each party to issue loans to the other party at the lender’s discretion. Pursuant to the Cantor Credit Agreement, the parties and their respective subsidiaries (with respect to Cantor, other than BGC and its subsidiaries) may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $250 million from each other from time to time at an interest rate which is the higher of Cantor’s or Newmark’s short-term borrowing rate then in effect, plus 1%.

There were no receivables from related parties as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. Payables to related parties were $6.0 million and $4.4 million as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

For a detailed discussion about Newmark’s Payables to related parties, see Note 1 — “Organization and Basis of Presentation”, Note 2 — “Limited Partnership Interests in Newmark and BGC Holdings” and Note 22 — “Long-Term Debt” in Newmark’s consolidated financial statements, included in Part II, Item 8 of Newmark’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

On May 15, 2020, the Newmark Audit Committee authorized RKF Retail Holdings LLC., a subsidiary of the Company, to enter into a one-year sublease to BGC U.S. OpCo ("BGC") of approximately 21,000 rentable square feet of excess space. The sublease commenced on May 15, 2020 and expires on May 31, 2021. Under the terms of the lease, BGC will pay Newmark a fixed rent amount of $1.1 million. In connection with this agreement, Newmark received $0.3 million from BGC for the three months ended March 31, 2021.

As part of the Knotel acquisition, Newmark assigned the rights to acquire certain Knotel assets to a subsidiary of Cantor, on the terms that if the subsidiary monetized the sale of these assets, Newmark would receive 10% of the proceeds of the sale after the subsidiary recoups its investment in the assets.

Cantor Rights to Purchase Cantor Units from Newmark Holdings
Cantor has a right to purchase from Newmark Holdings exchangeable limited partnership interests in the event that any Newmark Holdings founding partner interests that have not become exchangeable are redeemed by Newmark Holdings upon termination or bankruptcy of a founding partner or upon mutual consent of the general partner of Newmark Holdings and Cantor. Cantor has the right to purchase such Newmark Holdings exchangeable limited partnership interests at a price equal to the lesser of (1) the amount that Newmark Holdings would be required to pay to redeem and purchase such Newmark Holdings founding partner interests and (2) the amount equal to (a) the number of units underlying such founding partner interests, multiplied by (b) the exchange ratio as of the date of such purchase, multiplied by (c) the then-current market price of our Class A common stock. Cantor may pay such price using cash, publicly traded shares or other property, or a combination of the foregoing. If Cantor (or the other member of the Cantor group acquiring such limited partnership interests, as the case may be) so purchases such limited partnership interests at a price equal to clause (2) above, neither Cantor nor any member of the Cantor group nor Newmark Holdings nor any other person is obligated to pay Newmark Holdings or the holder of such founding partner interests any amount in excess of the amount set forth in clause (2) above.

In addition, the Newmark Holdings limited partnership agreement provides that (1) where either current, terminating or terminated partners are permitted by us to exchange any portion of their founding partner units and Cantor consents to such exchangeability, we will offer to Cantor the opportunity for Cantor to purchase the same number of new exchangeable limited partnership interests in Newmark Holdings at the price that Cantor would have paid for exchangeable limited partnership interests in the event we had redeemed the founding partner units; and (2) the exchangeable limited partnership interests to be offered to Cantor pursuant to clause (1) above would be subject to, and granted in accordance with, applicable laws, rules and regulations then in effect.

If Cantor acquires any units as a result of the purchase or redemption by Newmark Holdings of any founding partner interests, Cantor will be entitled to the benefits (including distributions) of the units it acquires from the date of termination or bankruptcy of the applicable founding partner. In addition, any such units will be exchangeable by Cantor for a number of shares of our Class B common stock or, at Cantor’s election, shares of our Class A common stock, in each case, equal to the then-current exchange ratio, on the same basis as the limited partnership interests held by Cantor, and will be designated as Newmark Holdings exchangeable limited partnership interests when acquired by Cantor. The exchange ratio was initially one, but is subject to adjustment as set forth in the Separation and Distribution Agreement and was 0.9365 as of March 31, 2021. This may permit Cantor to receive a larger share of income generated by our business at a less expensive price than through purchasing shares of our Class A common stock, which is a result of the price payable by Cantor to Newmark.
On March 31, 2021, Cantor purchased from Newmark Holdings an aggregate of (i) 273,088 exchangeable limited partnership interests for aggregate consideration of $1,105,598 as a result of the redemption of 273,088 founding partner interests, and (ii) 735,625 exchangeable limited partnership interests for aggregate consideration of $2,918,919 as a result of the exchange of 735,625 founding partner interests. Following such purchases, as of March 31, 2021 there were 217,617 founding partner interests in Newmark Holdings remaining in which the partnership had the right to redeem or exchange and with respect to which Cantor will have the right to purchase an equivalent number of Cantor units following such redemption or exchange.