John Barakat, head of M&G Investments Real Estate Finance Team, is leaving the business he set up 12 years ago.
Barakat joined the asset manager in 2009 from a background in investment banking at Goldman Sachs to set up one of the first real estate debt fund businesses after the global financial crisis.
Duncan Batty and Dan Riches, who have both worked with Barakat for around 10 years, have been appointed as new co-heads.
The first fund’s initial raise in early 2010 was only €140 mln of capital, but the initial six-strong team also invested on behalf of in-house clients, including Prudential Assurance. This proved a strong basis to grow a third-party mandate business.
By 2014-2015, the business was lending more than £2 bn a year.
Last year during the Covid pandemic, the 17-strong team, who originate loans in the UK, Europe and the US, deployed more than £1.6 bn.
Barakat focused on being able to provide loans through any part of the capital stack - senior, junior and mezzanine - often bilateral, and underwriting large deals and holding the loans to maturity to give the business a competitive edge.
Real estate debt is now part of M&G’s £67 bn Private & Alternative Assets division. William Nicoll, CIO of Private & Alternative Assets, said: ‘John 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.’
Batty joined in 2011 and has been involved in setting up and managing commingled funds and segregated accounts. With 15 years in the real estate finance industry, he was a solicitor prior to joining the business.
Riches has 20 years of experience in real estate and finance, having joined M&G in 2010 to focus on the origination and execution of transactions.
During 2020, he led on close to £1 bn worth of transactions, including the £303 million loan for the acquisition of 1 & 2 New Ludgate in the City of London – one of the largest deals in the UK market in 2020.
