Harin Thaker takes helm at Aeriance Investments ahead of fund launches

Harin Thaker, former head of real estate finance at Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, has been appointed CEO of lender Aeriance Investments as the firm embarks on the launch of two new debt funds.

Aeriance is seeking to raise around €1 bn of equity for the two new closed-end debt funds.

Aeriance Mezzanine Real Estate Debt Fund 3 (AMREF 3) will focus on mezzanine financing opportunities throughout Europe. It will focus on originating new and attractively priced junior financing backed by significant equity and viable exit plans; partnering with traditional lenders who are unable to fund parts of the capital structure due to policy constraints; and acquiring publicly traded debt such as CMBS.

AMREF 3 will seek to emulate the performance of previous mezzanine debt funds managed by Aeriance which have distributed dividends of 6% per annum since their respective launches with overall net expected IRRs of 10%.

The second fund, Opportunistic Real Estate Loan Fund 2 (OREL 2) will focus exclusively on senior and junior short term and development financing loans aimed at high end residential properties located in prime central London, such as Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair.

The €500 mln fund aims to capture a liquidity premium, created through a structural funding gap in this segment of the UK real estate market. OREL 1, launched in 2011, distributed 9% per annum after the initial investment period with an overall expected gross IRR of 14%.

Aeriance has been active in the debt markets for the past five years, employing strategies which take advantage of the shifts that have taken place in the lending markets since the financial crisis. It now has four debt funds under management, covering both the commercial and residential sectors, investing over €1.4 bn in the European lending markets since inception in 2008.

Thaker has over 20 years’ of extensive industry experience. Prior to his role as head of international real estate finance at pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, he served as a general manager of Hypo Real Estate Bank International before becoming a member of its management board in 2007 prior to its merger with Hypo Real Estate Bank in 2009. Between 2005 and 2011, he held the role of chief executive EMEA at Hypo Real Estate International Bank.

Commenting on his appointment, Thaker said: ‘Joining Aeriance represents a fantastic opportunity to work with a team of highly skilled real estate debt and fund practitioners and a business which has built an impressive performance track record since inception.

‘We are launching two new debt funds at a time when banks are still facing challenges in their ability to provide new debt and underlying sentiment in the real estate markets has started to improve. The growing appetite for debt exposure both from borrowers and investors, will underpin what we regard as a compelling market in which to launch our fundraising activity.’

The shifts in the European lending landscape have seen a large number of non-bank lenders such as insurers enter the debt space which they now see as offering attractive margins.

Click on the attachment below to read expert views on the debt financing market from PropertyEU’s latest Debt Finance Investment Briefing.