Odom-Haslett will join at the end of August to lead the firm’s entry into the sector in the UK. It is expected the firm will announce further hires following his appointment.
He will report to David Paine, head of real estate investments, and will be responsible for all aspects of the lending platform with an initial focus on good quality senior secured loans in the UK.
He joins the firm from Deutsche Pfandbrief Bank, where he was senior director working in the real estate credit risk management space.
Standard Life has over 50 years commercial real estate lending experience in Canada, and according to a spokesperson the firm has around £10.9bn invested in real estate globally. It owns a portfolio of real estate assets including offices, shopping malls and commercial space.
David Paine said: “The real estate lending market across Europe is continuing to experience a structural shift as non-bank lenders increase their market share in seeking to address the imbalance between supply and demand for real estate debt. This development has been fuelled by growing interest from institutions in the asset class as they look to further diversify their fixed income and real estate portfolios while maintaining and often enhancing yields and risk adjusted returns.”
Europe-focused real estate debt fundraising has increased by over 300% over the past year and funds in the space currently account for 26% of all real estate funds in market as fund managers look to take advantage of the funding gap left by traditional lenders, according to data from Preqin.
Last week Hermes announced it was to make inroads into the real estate debt space and hired Marcus Palmer to lead its efforts.
