Blend Network hires former RateSetter property expert
Blend Network has appointed former RateSetter property expert Ian Granger as a senior lending manager to lead the South West and Wales lending operations.
The property lending platform said Granger will be based in Bristol and was hired to help deploy capital from a £120m funding line it raised from a consortium of family offices in April.
Granger has over 35 years of experience in banking, finance and real estate, including as property development finance regional manager at RateSetter. He has also worked within the commercial small- and medium-sized enterprise market team at HSBC and the Davenham Group.
Most recently he worked as a business development manager at Premier Guarantee where he provided structural warranties and building control for local, regional and national developers, contractors, local authorities and housing associations covering the South West and South Wales.
Blend has been an active lender in the Greater Bristol area over the past two years with current projects including a £2.3m gross development value residential scheme of nine flats in Bristol.
It will offer up to 70 per cent loan to gross development value on development finance and bridging loans in the South West and Wales.
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“We are delighted to welcome Ian to our growing lending team,” said Yann Murciano, chief executive at Blend Network.
“Ian has a breadth and depth of experience across the real estate and finance sectors, as well as extensive regional expertise in the South West and Wales, which will significantly help us scale our loanbook in those regions.
“Ian’s appointment will allow us to expand our presence on the ground in the South West and Wales, helping to deploy our capital in those buoyant regions in line with the government’s Levelling Up agenda.”
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“I am very pleased to be joining Blend at such an exciting time,” said Granger.
“Blend is a dynamic and forward-thinking organisation with a strong appetite to offer development finance to experienced developers.
“While there are a number of factors that continue to hinder the supply of new housing stock coming to the market, I am hopeful that by increasing the availability of development finance it will go some way to increase the supply of new homes in the South West and Wales.”
This appointment follows Blend Network expanding into Northern Ireland and hiring Philip Anderson to lead its lending operations there, as well as recruiting Chris Mason to be responsible for mid-country lending operations based in Cambridgeshire.
Separately, in a blog post on the platform’s website, the specialist lender revealed it is opening a number of satellite offices across its UK regions.
