French investment manager La Française AM has hired Athema's former senior partner Bertrand Carrez to lead its foray into property debt.
French investment manager La Française AM has hired Athema's former senior partner Bertrand Carrez to lead its foray into property debt.
The company confirmed to PropertyEU on Friday that Carrez will be joining the team as head of its structured finance unit, effective March 1. Carrez was previously a senior partner at investment bank Athema Corporate Finance, where he developed a Real Estate Debt Advisory platform. Before then, he led Natixis' Real Estate Finance Europe arm.
Earlier this month PropertyEU reported that La Française was preparing the launch of a EUR 300 mln senior debt fund focusing on the French property market. The Paris-based asset manager is looking to take advantage of the scarcity of debt available in the market with the creation of a vehicle which will provide senior loans to core property assets in France.
The vehicle will have a warchest of some EUR 300 mln and an investment period of two years. When operative, it will be the first such fund in France.
The company, which is majority-owned by Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe, is in negotiations to take over a senior team specialised in debt and senior loan originations with a view to be fully operational in the second half of 2012. 'We have the real estate expertise, we need banking experts to support us in the business,' managing director Marc Bertrand told PropertyEU.
The fund will focus on debt origination rather than loan acquisitions, he added. 'This will allow us to have a better sight on the contracts and the conditions,' Bertrand explained.
