David Erwin’s consultancy Dunluce Property has partnered with Bayhead Advisers to offer a new service focusing on retail real estate and financing.
The alliance aims to offer a one-stop shop to help lenders and landlords adapt to the shifting landscape in retail as the pressure mounts on leveraged assets.
Each firm will offer this as an additional service to their core businesses, which will continue to operate separately.
Dunluce advises on the strategic and transactional aspects of commercial property investment, while Bayhead’s services include sourcing and advising on third-party debt and equity funding for real estate acquisitions, refinancing and restructuring.
Erwin told EG: “It’s becoming pretty clear to us that neither skill set on their own can provide owners [or] finance providers with the practical and holistic answers they need to move forward at a time of stalemate and illiquidity in both the occupational and capital markets.
“We can see that a joined-up approach should be better for our clients and the early signs are that there should be some traction.”
Andrew Wilson, managing partner of Bayhead, said: “Lenders will not lend on retail unless there is a clear, credible and realistic property strategy and plan.
“To truly add value to our clients invested in retail, we must invest heavily into building and challenging the retail strategy and translate that into a ‘credit-ready’ debt proposition.
“Partnering with Dunluce Property specifically on retail debt advisory will ensure retail investor clients get the much-needed tailored solutions in this challenged sector.”
Erwin left CBRE as an executive director last year. He was previously chief executive of capital markets and a UK board member at Cushman & Wakefield until 2015, when he left to set up Dunluce.
Wilson formerly led the real estate solutions team at Lloyds Banking Group, which advised the bank on its non-core asset management strategy and executed the majority of its large portfolio loan sales. He founded Bayhead in 2015 alongside former Lloyds colleague Nick Bull, who has since left the business.
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