Mark Bladon appointed Head of Real Estate at Investec

By Bridging Loan Directory 28th January 2021

Investec, a leading provider of residential and commercial finance to corporate, institutional and private clients, announces that it has appointed Mark Bladon, pictured, as Head of Real Estate.

It follows a successful 2020 which saw Investec lend £400 million in the last nine months across the private and corporate real estate market, growing its exposure to the structurally supported purpose built student accommodation (“PBSA”), residential for sale and rent, office and logistics sectors.

Mark joined Investec in 2006 and most recently led the high growth corporate real estate lending business, including establishing Investec’s market leading position funding both domestic and international PBSA developers.

Since the start of 2015, Investec has committed to over £820 million in the sector, financing more than 19,500 beds across 24 university cities

Mark replaces Gary Dobson, who is retiring after 32 years at the bank and ten years as Head of Real Estate. Prior to joining Investec.

Mark spent 12 years at Singer & Friedlander Plc where his roles included Credit officer with responsibility for Real Estate.

Under Mark’s leadership, 2021 will also see Investec expand its distribution capabilities, leveraging its deep sector expertise to partner with third party lenders seeking exposure to the attractive returns available from the high growth UK real estate sector.

The strength of Investec’s counterparty relationships has seen it coordinate over £250 million of syndicated real estate debt finance to date.

Reflecting evolving client needs, Investec will continue to offer alternative funding options, such as equity funding, usually alongside senior debt; portfolio lending to include both investment and development risk; and NAV facilities for fund clients in partnership with the Investec Fund Solutions team.

The Private Client real estate lending team, which is well positioned to benefit from the relative appeal of real estate versus other asset classes, will continue to be led by William Scoular.

Ryan Tholet, Investec, commented:

“Mark is a highly experienced financier who since joining Investec has established himself and Investec as the lending partner of choice for a number of leading global investors.

Furthermore, his deep understanding of the UK living sector has underpinned the team’s market leading position providing PBSA funding and as we look to replicate this success in other sectors and expand our real estate capabilities, this track record will be invaluable.

We would like to both recognise and thank Gary for his many years of service that have been instrumental in building the Real Estate platform into what it is today.

As a core part of this history, we believe Mark is the ideal person to deliver on the next stage of our growth strategy here, continuing what has gone before as well as helping us break ground in key new initiatives”

Mark Bladon, Head of Real Estate, Investec, added:

“This is an exciting time for Investec. Despite the challenges faced in 2020, we continued to fund a range of borrowers, ranging from high net worth property entrepreneurs through to global institutions, benefitting from the strength of the relationships that we have built up over 25 years of operation.

With a strong foothold in our key markets, the support of the wider bank, coupled with the vaccine rollout underway and favourable real estate fundamentals, we are bullish for the year ahead.

In particular we see a real opportunity in the market to grow our distribution capabilities, allowing us to take on larger and more complicated deals on behalf of our clients.

We also hope to further establish our credentials in the Living sector, especially growing our Build-to-Rent exposure, a sector which has displayed its resilience over the past 12 months, as well as increasing our exposure to logistics.”