Samuels, Posniak and Smith reunite to launch Octane Capital

By Bridging Loan Directory 20th March 2017

Jonathan Samuels, the founder of Dragonfly Property Finance, today announced his return to the specialist lending market with the launch, set for May, of Octane Capital.

Octane Capital is a joint venture with Pamplona Capital Management, a global investment management firm with funds under management in excess of $5 billion.

As Octane Capital CEO, Samuels will be reunited with Mark Posniak and Matt Smith, who he has worked closely with since setting up Dragonfly Property Finance in 2009. Posniak will assume the position of Managing Director and Smith that of Director of Risk.

Tom Clark, previously Head of Bridging at Wellesley and Senior Development Manager at Shawbrook Bank, also joins Octane Capital as Sales Director. Other notable hires include Robert Graham as Head of Finance. Graham previously worked as Finance Manager at Dragonfly.

The new lender will offer residential and commercial bridging loans, medium-term buy-to-let products and development finance, all at competitive rates.

With the Octane Capital management team’s background in introducer-friendly products and processes, it will source its loans primarily through brokers and master brokers.

Octane Capital’s initial product range will be announced in May when it formally launches. It will offer a full range of specialist lending products and will focus on complex, non-standard and larger than average loans that brokers may struggle to place with other lenders.

This is an area that Samuels and his management team have repeatedly proven as a core skill over many years and which they once again have the finance to deliver in the specialist finance space.

As part of an aggressive growth strategy, Octane Capital is seeking to add to its team and is keen to hear from driven people with a proven track record in development, credit and sales. If interested, please email careers@octanecapital.co.uk.

Jonathan Samuels, CEO, Octane Capital, commented:

“It’s fantastic to be back in the industry and working again with some of the most respected names in specialist property finance. In Pamplona we have an exceptionally strong and experienced funding partner that will position us well from the outset and enable us to lend at will. Our focus will be on complex, non-standard loans that are outside the comfort zone of most other lenders but which we believe play to our strengths. We are certainly not here to make up the numbers.”

Nitin Bhandari, Partner, Pamplona Capital Management, added:

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Jonathan and the Octane Capital team, whose experience and ability in this market are second to none. I have no doubt that Octane Capital will make rapid inroads into the specialist lending sector and it will have our full support and funding to do exactly that.”