Investcorp expands debt business

Following the launch of its $1bn real estate debt vehicle, the Bahrain-based investment firm has appointed former JP Morgan and Bear Stearns professional, Christopher Hoeffel, to help grow its debt investment business.

Bahrain-based Investcorp has hired Christopher Hoeffel, former managing director at JP Morgan, to join the firm as a managing director in its US based real estate team.

It comes just days after the firm revealed it was launching a $1 billion real estate debt vehicle to target real estate loans and commercial mortgage backed securities in the US. An unnamed sovereign wealth fund from the Gulf region committed $850 million to the vehicle, Investcorp Real Estate Credit Fund, with Investcorp committed $150 million to the fund.

In his new role, Hoeffel will be tasked with expanding the firm’s debt investments, including deploying capital for its newly launched vehicle, as well as the firm’s debt investment activities including originating and acquiring mezzanine debt, subordinate debt, CMBS and preferred equity positions in US commercial real estate. Hoeffel will be reporting to the co-heads of Investcorp’s real estate group, John Fraser and Jonathan Dracos.

Prior to joining Investcorp, Hoeffel was a managing director in the securitized products group at JP Morgan. Before that he was a senior managing director and global co-head of commercial mortgages for Bear Stearns. Hoeffel, a founding member of Bear Stearns’ commercial mortgage group, was responsible for the origination and sale of more than $200 billion of commercial real estate debt in the US, Europe and Japan. Hoeffel was also previously vice president at Eastdil Realty, a New York-based real estate investment banking firm, and currently serves as president of the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA).