James has over a decade’s experience in debt financing and investing and has worked on the origination, execution and management of many large European real estate financing transactions. He joins from Cordea Savills, where he was co-head of debt investment. Prior to this, James worked at Palatium Investment Management, a specialist real estate debt manager, where he managed a £355m commercial real estate CDO. He has also worked in structured finance at Citigroup, Eurohypo AG and Deutsche Bank AG.
James will report to Ben Stirling, Managing Director of Real Estate, UK and Europe. His focus will be on strengthening Aviva Investors’ position and offering real estate financing and debt investing to external investors, a market in which Aviva has been active for over 30 years.
Ben Stirling, Managing Director of Real Estate, UK and Europe, commented:
“James’s appointment demonstrates how we are deepening our presence and expertise in the real estate debt financing market. There is a compelling demand as investors increasingly look at ways to diversify their fixed income portfolios and real estate debt offers attractive risk adjusted returns as a complement to traditional fixed income investments. As many banks are reducing the size of their balance sheets, opportunities are increasing for non-bank lenders to step in and institutional investors are looking at this space ever more closely.”
