Lloyds Banking Group has transferred a senior London real estate banker to Singapore in a bid to tap into Asian demand for UK property.
Tim Wheeler, who worked in the bank’s real estate lending team, has moved to Singapore to gain access to the top decision makers at Asian property investors.
He will work under Singapore office head Stefan Fiedhoff and London-based global head of commercial real estate lending at Lloyds, John Feeney.
Feeney said: “We have been able to hold conversations on the ground in the UK, but some of the time we have found that the decisions have been made overseas, so with on- the-ground presence in Asia we’ll be able to cover both the operating teams in the UK and the decision makers in the home markets.”
Lloyds has already won significant business from Asian buyers such as Ping An for which it financed the £327m acquisition of Tower Place, EC3, with a £210m loan at the start of this year. Wheeler was heavily involved with the deal.
Feeney said the bank was now looking to “enhance and increase market share and deepen the quality of the service we can provide to some of these investors”.
“With a presence in Asia we can be on the ground as the investment plans form rather than later on when perhaps the decision making has been concluded,” he added.
Wheeler’s focus will initially be on financing inward investment into the UK and will not include originating loans secured against Asian property.
