One of Lehman Brothers’ star financiers has quit to head giant German bank HVB’s Real Estate Investment Banking division.
HVB Real Estate Capital, Europe’s biggest provider of commercial property finance, will unveil Seth Lieberman as joint managing director of HVBREIB at next week’s MIPIM conference in Cannes.
HVBREC, which will be part of the HVB Real Estate Bank to be spun off from the German bank’s other operations, has a loan book of almost E200bn. Lieberman, who had been an executive director at Lehman, handled around E1.3bn of transactions during his three years there.
He was responsible for some of Lehman’s biggest financing deals under Wilson Lee’s Global Real Estate Finance Group, including the £365m acquisition of a UK portfolio by Westbrook Partners and Investream, and the £175m refinancing of Israeli property company Alony Hetz’s UK portfolio.
He said: “I was pleased to be presented with the opportunity to join a bank with HVB’s reputation and stature in the property investment community. As the bank progresses and completes the establishment of a separate commercial real estate financing company, it will be uniquely positioned to participate in the continued transition of European property ownership.”
HVBREIB focuses on bridge loans, mezzanine finance and complex or highly structured pan-European property lending opportunities. Lieberman will spearhead HVBREIB’s activities in Europe and he added: “We will further develop existing relationships and further expand lending relationships with skilled investors across Europe. We will target opportunities created as corporations and investors unlock equity inefficiently allocated within their balance sheets and investment portfolios.”
Based in HVBREC’s London office, Lieberman will work with Maitland Bruce and the existing four-man team, reporting to Harin Thaker, CEO of HVBREIB.
Thaker said: “Seth has a first-class reputation and is well-known and well respected throughout the European property industry. We are confident that he will build and develop the business base.”
Georg Funke, chairman designate of HVB Real Estate Bank and chairman of HVBREC, added: “Seth is a proven professional, who has demonstrated his ability to complete complicated transactions across Europe. I am delighted that he has agreed to join us.”
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