CapitalRise expansion continues with double hire
Specialist prime property finance provider CapitalRise has made two new hires, as its expansion continues.
The platform has appointed Barney Iles as associate director of lending and Heather McKenzie as credit analyst.
Ilses joins from Octopus Real Estate where he was originations manager. He previously played a part in real estate funding projects in his roles at Ingenious Real Estate and Nationwide Building Society.
Meanwhile, McKenzie joins from NYC-based CIT Group where she was responsible for leveraged finance origination, underwriting and portfolio management.
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“We are very excited to welcome Barney and Heather to CapitalRise,” said Uma Rajah (pictured), co-founder and chief executive of CapitalRise.
“They both have an impressive depth of knowledge and experience which will strengthen the team as we continue to grow.
“Having secured over £50m of additional funding lines last year and with term sheets agreed for even larger lines, they will play an important role in ensuring we deploy this capital prudently, into the right projects with the right borrowers.
“We continue to see huge demand for our stretched senior and mezzanine development and sales period loans and have seen transaction flow increase significantly since December’s election result helped to relieve uncertainty and pressure on the prime market.”
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CapitalRise said it expects to make another hire later this month.
“It’s an exciting time to join the CapitalRise team and help build on the huge growth they saw last year,” Iles said.
“With a bespoke and flexible approach to prime property finance, I believe that CapitalRise is uniquely positioned to grow market presence and become the go-to lender for prime developers over the coming year.”
“It’s a pleasure to join CapitalRise and support the expanding team of originators,” added McKenzie.
“Due to the specialist nature of the prime assets we lend against, we never take a one size fits all approach to lending.
“The fact that each loan is unique makes my role incredibly interesting and I look forward to helping find funding solutions for yet more bespoke, high-value schemes.”