Puma Property Finance expands team

By Bridging Loan Directory 1st March 2023

Puma Property Finance, the specialist development finance lender, has announced a series of new hires and promotions as it continues to expand its UK business.

The company provides first charge lending to professional developers and property investors of between £10 – £50 million for projects across the country in all major sectors including residential, student accommodation, commercial, healthcare and light industrial.

Louise Peters, pictured, has joined the 20 plus strong team at Puma Property Finance from Investec.

Louise originally hails from South Africa, and has over 15 years’ experience in the Banking and Property Finance industry.

She will be responsible for writing new business and managing aspects of Puma’s growing loan book.

Rahul Malde has been promoted to Senior Manager in the Puma lending team.

Rahul joined Puma Property Finance in 2020 from Hermes Investment Management, having previously worked in Nationwide’s Commercial Real Estate Finance division.

Rahul played a major part in Puma’s record-breaking year of new business in 2022, including leading on the business’ ground-breaking £33m loan for the redevelopment of Mountbatten House in Basingstoke into a market-leading sustainable office offering.

Sarah Milne has also been promoted to Senior Manager in the Puma lending team.

Prior to joining Puma Property Finance in 2019, Sarah worked at The Property Box Company plc, a specialist mezzanine development finance lender.

Sarah leads on Puma’s sustainability initiatives, which include a recently announced partnership with University College London.

She also worked on the business’ first loan under its new £300m partnership with Waterfall Asset Management, the development of a £65m GDV residential apartment complex in Stonebridge Park.

Commenting on the changes, Paul Frost, Managing Director of Puma Property Finance, said:

“We are investing in building the capability within our specialist lending team in a period of growth for our business.

I’m delighted to welcome Louise to the team, where her experience and insight will be highly valued. I’d also like to congratulate Rahul and Sarah on their promotions to Senior Manager.

These team changes come off the back of an incredible year for Puma Property Finance, having completed a number of new transactions across the healthcare, build-to-rent and various other sectors, and we look forward to seeing further growth with our expanding team in 2023.