Axel Brinkmann, a director in LaSalle Investment Management’s debt investment team, is leaving the fund manager to join Royal Bank of Canada.
Brinkmann joined the firm in 2010 and was responsible for originating funding deals as well as buying distressed debt in the UK, Germany and France.
He was part of the team led by head of debt investments and special situations Amy Aznar and European director Michael Zerda. Brinkmann previously worked at Saint Paul’s Capital Partners and Wachovia.
Royal Bank of Canada has been a growing force in the European real estate financing market over the past 18 months. The bank’s European lending team is based in London and led by managing director Kathryn Ogden.
The bank has focused largely on higher-margin lending and loan-on-loan financings since it set up its London office in 2013. Since then it has frequently tied up with its North American client base and has a particularly close relationship with Lone Star, for which it part funded the purchase of the £5.2bn Projects Rock and Salt in February last year alongside Citi and Wells Fargo.
