Bridging lender strengthens team with two new hires

By Bridging Loan Directory 10th January 2019

Whitehall Capital Fund (‘Whitehall Capital’ or ‘the Company’), the specialist commercial and residential property bridge financing fund, is pleased to announce two key appointments with immediate effect as it continues on its upward growth trajectory. Benji Perlberger has been appointed as Business Development Manager and Denise Frohwein has joined as Relationship Manager.

Whitehall Capital was founded in March 2017 by Amram Capital – an independent wealth management and investment advisory firm – and has been rapidly expanding its loan book since. It has completed over 40 loans to date with its success being driven by its competitive pricing on loans, readily available capital and therefore fast and efficient turnaround times which give it an edge over its competitors.

Benji Perlberger, a business management and trading professional with over 5 years’ experience, started his career at the leading global trade and distribution marketer Tricon Energy in 2013 where he was responsible for the physical trading activities of petrochemicals in Europe and the Middle East. He built his own trading book from the ground up.

Benji led a team of operations and logistics analysts and oversaw all aspects of the trade including risk management and finance. Before that he held several intern positions on the trading desks at Switzerland’s Zurich Cantonal Bank as well as in the oil and gas trading departments at the multinational commodity trading and mining company Glencore. At the same time, Benji has acquired experience in Real Estate including bridge financing for his own account. He holds a BSc in Statistics, Economics and Finance from University College London.

Denise Frohwein, a real estate and financial industries professional with more than 10 years’ experience in the sectors, will focus on sourcing and securing new clients for Whitehall Capital’s expanding loan book. Denise has considerable experience in providing guidance to high net-worth individuals, managing a portfolio of properties and preparing valuations for properties. She has a proven track record in sourcing, building and maintaining new client relationships.

Whitehall Capital is focused on issuing short term loans (normally 3 to 12 months) that are primarily secured against residential UK property though properties may also be commercial, mixed use or land with planning permission. The majority of the Company’s loans are in the £2m-£3million range which is its preferred quantum; to date the largest loan issued has been £10 million though the Company’s ceiling size is £20 million. It has delivered a net 10.4% return to investors on an annualised basis since its establishment.

The fund only lends against properties in the UK with its current focus area being outside central London but within the M25. However, it is actively looking to be a more national lender of choice for its target market.

Anthony Bodenstein, CEO of Whitehall Capital, said:

“The new year is getting off to a strong start for Whitehall Capital and we are delighted to welcome both Benji and Denise to the team. Their wealth of business experience will play a key role in building our portfolio as we look to reinforce our proposition of providing competitively priced loans with a fast average turnaround of 10 days. As a subsidiary of an asset management business, we always have available capital we can immediately deploy which gives us an advantage over competitors that upon receiving a mandate for a loan then have to look to raise the capital to fund it.

They join the Company at an exciting time – we have funded £25 million in property transactions in the past three months. We continue to advance our strategic objective of providing loans targeted to professional and established real estate investors and developers which are secured against properties primarily valued between £1m and £10m. The UK property bridging market has proven to be relatively resilient over the last 18 months with annual completions having risen by 27.2% compared with the year ended 30th June 2017, according to figures from the Association of Short-Term Lenders. We are looking forward to capitalising on this growth in 2019 and further cementing our already strong reputation in this flourishing market.”