Investec Real Estate has made three hires in recent months to lead its newly formed syndication team, as it sets its sights on bigger and “more sophisticated” transactions.
Jason Presence and Seb Walley have joined as originators, while Gordon Milnes has been appointed as a syndicator.
Presence (pictured above, left) has joined Investec from NatWest, where he was regional director, responsible for a £2.5bn pan-sector loan book. He oversaw an 18-strong team, supporting a range of UK and international clients including private equity, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, listed companies and funds. Previous roles include managing national housebuilders at RBS and joint head of global property finance UK at the Bank of Ireland.
Walley (pictured above, right) was previously a relationship director at NatWest’s private clients real estate team, where he managed a £700m portfolio of HNW and institutional clients, with a focus on the living, office and multi-let logistics sectors.
Milnes (pictured above, centre) has joined Investec from Crédit Agricole, where he was executive director, debt optimisation and distribution, responsible for structuring and distributing UK syndicated real estate loans. He previously spent 14 years at Lloyds Banking Group, which included building its loan syndication business in Asia.
Based in London, all three report directly to head of real estate Mark Bladon. Presence and Walley are responsible for originating senior development and investment facilities, typically in the £60m to £130m range, which Investec will syndicate to its global capital partners seeking access to UK real estate loans.
Milnes is responsible for managing Investec’s existing capital partner relationships alongside establishing new ones.
To date, Investec has arranged £635m of syndicated real estate finance, partnering with third-party lenders seeking exposure to UK real estate returns. It will continue to focus on its core sectors of purpose-built student accommodation, build-to-rent, build-to-sell, light industrial and logistics, and office repositioning.
Bladon said the appointments will allow Investec to “accelerate our off-balance sheet loan book growth ambitions”.
He said: “We are increasingly seeing borrowers seeking competitively priced club deals, which very few lenders are able to arrange. Leveraging the strength of our global institutional client base and market-leading living platform, we see a unique opportunity to connect clients with third-party capital looking for exposure to what remains an attractive UK real estate market.”
Presence said: “The market fragmentation caused by the current macroeconomic volatility presents an opportunity for well-capitalised and highly experienced and disciplined lenders such as Investec. In a higher-cost environment, we believe a sophisticated, competitively priced syndication proposition will further differentiate Investec’s offering.”
Milnes said: “With lender appetite for exposure to UK real estate still strong, there is an opportunity to leverage our 25-year origination platform to partner with a diverse mix of global capital providers seeking to access the market.”
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