French bank Société Générale has hired former Lehman Brothers co-head of UK real estate, James Jakeman, in a clear sign it is stepping up its property lending programme.
Soc Gen said today Jakeman had been appointed head of Real Estate Structured Finance for the UK. He took up his position on 13 June.
The former executive director and co-head of UK Real Estate at Lehman Brothers is based in Soc Gen’s London office and reports to Jean-Francois Despoux, global head of real estate and lodging and Grégoire Simon-Barboux, deputy global head.
After working for Lehman for eight years, Jakeman joined Aurum Real Estate, a private property investment company based in Mayfair where he was a partner responsible for investment in real estate transactions. He originally joined Lehman Brothers in 2000 as an analyst in the real estate team.
His joining coincides with a notable push into real estate finance by Soc Gen.
In August last year, Bloomberg reported the bank was to double Asia property lending, and in March this year, the bank figured on the annual list of the biggest real estate lenders to UK property, compiled by property services firm Savills. Savills called Soc Gen a new entrant to the list of big ticket property lenders alongside other new names, HSBC and Santander of Spain.
Soc Gen is also thought to be stepping up its placement agent and fundraising capabilities. In November last year, Eoin Bastible joined as director at the Real Estate Private Fundraising Group, which is housed within Soc Gen’s corporate and investment banking division. He was formerly associate director, capital markets, at Avestus Capital Partners.
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