Starwood Real Estate Finance is set to make loans in Italy and Spain for the first time after issuing £38.2m of loans in the first half of the year.
The move into the new territory follows loans made on Danish and Irish assets in the first six months of the year.
The lender also said in its half year statement that the business was seeing more activity from borrowers whose existing lender had exited the market, particularly in Scandinavia.
Starwood said it also anticipated increased activity in the non-performing loan market from refinancing borrowers that had seen their loans bought as part of portfolios.
The firm had more than £247m in loans deployed as of the end of June across 12 different facilities.
Starwood’s operating profit of £7.9m was up from £5m in the same period of 2014. Total income from investments was £9.8m.
Further lending commitments will be funded through an existing revolving credit facility and by raising equity over the next 12 months.
