Eugenia Jimenez
Steve Plavin, recently appointed to lead Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies in Europe, says a wide array of funding opportunities is likely to emerge as European markets reopen.
Property finance veteran Natalie Howard is building a new credit business. She tells us why organisations like Schroders are the ‘natural fillers’ of real estate’s funding gap.
Following the bank’s €400m refinancing of a pan-European logistics portfolio for GLP, its managing director for special property finance says funding for multi-jurisdictional transactions is scarce.
Alternative debt providers are increasingly willing to fill the void left by banks in the European sector, but financing mandates remain scarce.
Market sources say non-bank lenders dominate the financing of such schemes as they look for returns in parts of the market underserved by traditional banks.
The UK challenger bank’s debut loan in the sector was put on hold at the start of the pandemic but the resulting deal was larger than initially planned.
The firm’s head of European real estate finance explains why the opportunity to finance 10 George Street in London’s Canary Wharf tempted it into its first private rented sector residential loan in Europe.
Louise Gillon, head of hotel finance at lender Leumi UK, says she is confident in long-term demand for high-quality accommodation in city centre locations.
The real estate manager has hired Isabelle Brennan from M&G and Michelle Liu from CIT to expand its debt platforms on both sides of the Atlantic.
Commercial mortgage-backed securities issuance in Europe is gaining traction, with six deals launched so far this year.