M&G names Batty, Riches real estate debt co-heads as Barakat leaves

M&G Investments has appointed Duncan Batty and Dan Riches real estate debt co-heads to take over from John Barakat.

Barakat, who founded M&G’s real estate finance strategy in 2009, will be leaving the company.

Batty has 15 years of real estate experience. He joined M&G in 2011 and has been involved in the establishment and management of funds and segregated accounts. Prior to joining M&G, he was a solicitor practising in the real estate finance industry.

Riches has over 20 years of real estate and finance experience, having joined M&G in 2010 to focus on the origination and execution of investments. He was previously in the European CMBS group at S&P and prior to that worked at RBS where he originated and structured real estate finance transactions. 

William Nicoll, the CIO of private and alternative assets at M&G, said: “Barakat founded our real estate finance strategy in 2009 and established a market-leading team – he leaves with our thanks for his contribution over the past decade.

“In Batty and Riches we have two astute investors who will lead this team through its next phase by further internationalising our origination capability to reflect growing investor demand, deepening our relationships with existing sponsors and selecting transactions that are designed to provide our investors with the secured income, good relative value and sustainability credentials that we believe the asset class has to offer.”

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