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Aeriance appoints Thaker as CEO

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European commercial real estate lending specialist Aeriance Investments has appointed Harin Thaker to the role of chief executive, as the business embarks on the launch of circa EUR1bn of new debt fund activity.

Thaker (pictured) joins the business with over 20 years’ of industry experience. He was previously head of international real estate finance at PBB Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, a lender in real estate finance and public sector finance.
 
He also 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.
 
Under Thaker’s stewardship the company is launching two new specialist funds.
 
The Aeriance Mezzanine Real Estate Debt Fund 3 (AMREF 3) is a circa EUR500m specialist, closed end fund focused on mezzanine financing opportunities of commercial properties 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 builds on the previous mezzanine debt funds managed by Aeriance which have distributed dividends of six per cent pa since their respective launches with overall net expected IRRs of 10 per cent.
 
Opportunistic Real Estate Loan Fund 2 (OREL 2), a closed end EUR500m fund focused 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 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, delivered distributions of nine per cent pa after the initial investment period with an overall expected gross IRR of 14 per cent.
 
Thaker says: “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.” 

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