Shivani Goolab appointed Head of Private Client Lending at Investec Real Estate

By Bridging Loan Directory 1st May 2024

Investec, a leading provider of residential and commercial development and investment finance to corporate, institutional and private clients, announces that it has appointed Shivani Goolab as Head of Private Client Lending in its Real Estate team.

Investec’s 11-strong private client team enjoyed a strong 2023/24 financial year, committing £400 million of investment and development senior debt across a mix of structurally undersupplied and dislocated sectors.

Highlights included £170 million in residential for rent, £100 million in residential for sale and £90 million in office.

Under Shivani’s leadership, Investec’s private client offering will continue to provide ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and privately owned UK corporates with bespoke financing solutions across the risk spectrum, with a particular focus on value add and opportunistic strategies.

Reflecting the stage of the cycle and its legacy residential sector bias, Investec is targeting an increased loan book weighting towards Living development, a highly undersupplied part of the market.

2024 will also see Investec continue to evolve its offering in response to client demand.

Driven in part by its expanding distribution capabilities and the retrenchment of the clearing banks, Investec will seek to underwrite larger ticket loans.

Additionally, in line with its own ESG commitments, Investec is increasingly advising clients on their environmental and social considerations.

Having joined Investec’s Real Estate team in 2015, Shivani has since closed over £500 million of real estate loans in both the development and investment space across all real estate asset classes.

In 2021, she received an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Mark Bladon Head of Real Estate, Investec, commented:

“Versus the wider market, the performance of the private client team in the last financial year, and indeed the wider real estate lending platform, was highly impressive.

A combination of through-the-cycle experience and early mover advantage in the Living sector, which has turned out to be one of the most resilient parts of the market during the recent period of uncertainty, has enabled us to continue growing the loan book.

Shivani has been central to establishing the Investec Real Estate team as a dominant force in the market, and as our more entrepreneurial clients look to capitalise on market dislocation and an improving backdrop, she is the ideal leader to take our offering forward.”

Shivani Goolab, Head of Private Client Lending, Investec, added:

“For value-add investors and developers with the experience and conviction, the risk adjusted returns that UK real estate offers at this stage in the cycle are highly compelling.

Leveraging our 30-year track record, relationship banking ethos and £3 billion platform, we are uniquely placed to be the long-term banking partner of choice for this cohort.

Whilst our core sectors remain unchanged, our holistic real estate platform will enable us to originate larger loans in what has been a historically underserved part of the market, and stimulate the delivery of new, sustainable property across the UK.”