Blackstone is combining its real estate debt and asset-backed financing businesses and has selected Jonathan Pollack to lead the new unit.

The new Structured Finance Group will manage all financing activities in the areas of consumer finance, real estate, transportation, trade receivables, fund finance and digital infrastructure.

Timothy Johnson, global head of origination for Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (BREDS), will take over from Pollack as global head of BREDS.

Mike Wiebolt, who manages investments in liquid real estate securities, will now also manage asset-backed securities. Rob Camacho will continue to lead asset-based finance.

Blackstone said the Structured Finance Group, which combines BREDS and various asset-backed finance activities, ”will drive further scale” in its lending capabilities.

Jon Gray, president and COO of Blackstone, said: “This team will capitalise on information across asset classes to deliver unique financing solutions to our clients.

”The time to expand this part of our business has never been better, particularly as we deploy increasing amounts of insurance capital.”

Pollack said: “We believe that direct origination of structured credit investments is integral to delivering differentiated performance for our clients.

“We are excited to build upon our greatest strengths – broad sourcing capabilities reinforced by deep relationships, large scale capital, and providing tailored solutions to our borrowers and counterparties.”

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