Investec Real Estate has appointed Jason Presence and Seb Walley as originators and Gordon Milnes as syndicator to lead the company’s newly-formed syndication team, as it targets “larger and more sophisticated transactions”.
Presence joins Investec from NatWest where he was regional director responsible for a £2.5bn pan-sector loan book. He will be responsible for managing Investec’s current capital partner relationships alongside establishing new ones, leveraging his global distribution experience.
Walley was previously a relationship director in the NatWest private clients real estate team, where he managed a £700m portfolio of high net worth and institutional clients, with a focus on the living, office and multi-let logistics sectors. Presence and Walley will be 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 was formerly executive director, debt optimisation and distribution, responsible for structuring and distributing UK syndicated real estate loans, at Credit Agricole,
All three new hires will be based in London and report directly to Investec head of real estate Mark Bladon.
Bladon said: “Having established a strong syndication offering in recent years, the appointments of Seb, Jason and Gordon, with over 60 years’ of combined experience, will allow us to accelerate our off-balance sheet loan book growth ambitions. 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 added: “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.”
