Cushman & Wakefield announced today that it has formed an exclusive joint enterprise with Investment Capital, a specialist distressed situations consultancy headed by Jon Digby-Rogers. Jon is a property banker and loan work-out specialist with a 30-year career in banking and property, and this arrangement will significantly enhance Cushman & Wakefield's services in the area of corporate recovery and restructuring in EMEA.
Jon has been running a real estate corporate finance consultancy for a number of years and has previously occupied senior property finance positions at a number of lenders including Saudi International Bank, where he was head of finance and a member of its work out credit committee.
The arrangement between Investment Capital and Cushman & Wakefield is integral to the formation of Cushman & Wakefield's Resolution Group, which offers practical real estate and financial advice to businesses and banks facing financial challenge and distress. The group determines and implements the optimal resolution strategy for real estate assets, whether it be releasing capital from real estate portfolios or, where a business is facing insolvency restructuring and/or arranging refinancing. Advising clients on the potential for equity investment in existing debt is a key element of the group's business. Investment Capital will be supported by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from the Capital Markets Group and other pan-European specialist areas within Cushman & Wakefield.
In addition, Jon's experience of corporate finance whilst acting as the Head of Finance for a major bank will enable the Resolution Group to advise banks on a very broad basis and reflect the accounting, tax and capital adequacy issues relating to performing and non-performing property loans.
"The exclusive joint enterprise with Jon, who is a true specialist in his field with an impressive loan work-out track record from the 1980s and 1990s both here and abroad, gives us an edge in the market for corporate recovery services." said Bryan Laxton, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in the UK.
"He adds another layer of specialism, experience and contacts to our established corporate recovery team of property investment and management professionals. That can only be beneficial for clients in potentially distressed situations and will ensure we are providing the "best in class" advice in the industry."
Jon Digby-Rogers said "We are now in the most serious financial and banking crisis in living memory. The global implications are profound and dislocation in the international markets requires fundamental reassessment of how real estate assets have been financed. Lessons learned in previous market declines over the past thirty five years will be extremely valuable, but current conditions will also demand imaginative and innovative solutions. Working with the team at C&W will create a very powerful platform and will create the ideal opportunity to bring these solutions with greatest effect to both owners and financiers of real estate."
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
