Global real estate advisor JLL is expanding its debt & financial advisory service to Finland, appointing Eemeli Lehto as department head as of 1 September.
CEO of JLL Finland, Tero Lehtonen, said: 'With its 30% market share, JLL is already the leading buy and sell-side advisor in Finland.
'Debt advisory is an ideal addition to our advisory service offer, as with this service, we can address an even broader range of client needs related to real estate investments and financing.'
Before transferring to JLL, Lehto worked as the chief financial officer of Ylva, the asset management company of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki.
Before his time at Ylva, Eemeli worked as senior manager in the debt capital markets unit of Danske Bank.
Lehto said: 'I am naturally thrilled and highly motivated to be joining the JLL team. It is a great opportunity to lead and design a service for which there is such high demand in the market.
'Financing arrangements and transactions require specific expertise that we can now offer to JLL’s clients in Finland as well. My new role allows me to leverage the skillset I have attained from working in the field of versatile financing arrangements to provide novel solutions and reliable advice to our clients.'
According to a survey by JLL, up to 69% of the international lenders operating in the EMEA area have a desire to finance real estate investments in Finland. Despite the strong appetite, only 28% of the respondents have thus far done so.
Matching investors’ financing needs with this untapped supply is a key objective with the introduction of the Debt & Financial Advisory service in Finland.
Tero Uusitalo, co-head of capital markets at JLL Finland said: 'In the future, we can also consider expanding the service from real estate to infrastructure projects, if this is something that our clients want.'
