Pramerica Real Estate Investors has hired a team of real estate finance veterans to build a commercial real estate mezzanine platform in Europe and offer investors around the world the opportunity to take advantage of a rapidly changing real estate market. Pramerica is the real estate investment advisory and management business of Prudential Financial Inc., of the United States (NYSE: PRU).
Pramerica has absorbed the team at Paramount Private Equity LLP, founded by Andrew Radkiewicz and Andrew Macland, who formerly headed the real estate finance business at N M Rothschild & Sons in London. The Paramount fund platform focused on originating, structuring and managing debt and mezzanine investments in the European real estate markets. Managing directors Radkiewicz and Macland are being joined by Mathew Crowther and Brian Scally.
"Changes in the real estate and banking markets have created opportunities for our investors," said Robert Falzon, managing director and head of European business for Pramerica. "This team has the skill to identify opportunities, the capacity to accurately assess risk and the judgment to make the right choices for our clients. With the experience of more than £3 billion in transactions, this team perfectly complements our successful U.S. mezzanine strategy."
Not only have current market conditions created immediate opportunities, but Pramerica believes that over the long term, regulatory changes will shrink the banking sector's holding on the real estate financing market, creating long-term opportunities for a sustainable business strategy.
"We are delighted to join Pramerica's established private equity team to develop a business platform that offers investors worldwide the potential for participating in the good returns available from bringing sustainable funding to property companies, providing restructuring liquidity to banks and by accessing stressed situations," Radkiewicz said.
Macland added, "Pramerica's $46.8-billion global real estate business, with $3.2 billion invested in mezzanine over the last five years, provides the ideal partnership for our team to build upon our proven track record in the European real estate finance sector."
Radkiewicz has more than 20 years of experience in property finance business. Before leading the London based real estate finance business at Rothschild, he previously worked in property finance units at Lloyds TSB, Credit Lyonnais and Compagnie Bancaire. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Warwick.
Macland, a chartered surveyor with experience in all aspects of commercial real estate finance, is a former director at Rothschild. Macland has also worked at Anglo Irish Bank, CCF Charterhouse, and Stevens Scanlan & Partners. Macland has a bachelor's degree in real estate management from the University of Nottingham.
Crowther, a solicitor, served as an assistant director at Rothschild. Earlier, he was a senior associate at Clifford Chance, where he led structuring finance solutions for real estate loan portfolios. Before that, he served as an associate in the Sydney office of Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Australia's largest law firm. He holds a bachelor's degree in commerce and a bachelor of laws from the University of Queensland in Australia.
Scally, also part of the Paramount team, was previously a manager for JR Thomas & Co., chartered accountants in Sydney. Earlier, he was a member of the Consumer Industrial Products audit group for PriceaterhouseCoopers in Dublin. He has a bachelor's degree in commerce and a master's degree in accounting from University College Dublin. He also has a master's degree in applied finance from Macquarie University.
Source: Tavistock
