Financing and Investing: Our State of the Market Overview

From acquisitions and mergers to new deals getting pencilled, learn what to expect in terms of capital markets come 2025

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  Jenny Hammarlund

  Jenny Hammarlund is a senior managing director at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Based in London, she leads the real estate investment group in the UK and Europe as well as global strategy and value creation. She is responsible for overseeing investment activity, strategy and overall portfolio management, and she also led the integration of Cadillac Fairview’s international investment team into OTPP in 2024. Hammarlund has over 25 years of experience in private equity globally, primarily focused on real estate. She previously held positions as managing director at H.I.G. Capital and director at KKR, where she was focused on sourcing and executing real estate investments across Europe. Hammarlund's résumé also includes stints as director at Värde Partners in London and as vice president at Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners in New York, where she was focused on real estate investments in the U.S. She speaks four languages.

  Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

  Senior Managing Director

  Jenny Hammarlund

  Senior Managing Director

  Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

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  Steven Clark

  Steven has worked in real estate for over 18 years across a range of disciplines including investment, fund management and corporate finance. Having first joined Grainger in 2009, Steven re-joined the business this year following two years spent as Residential Investment Director at Lendlease Europe. In his current role, Steven heads the team responsible for the sourcing and execution of residential investments, namely the forward funding of assets from third party developers and the acquisition of stabilised assets. A Chartered Accountant, Steven brings a wealth of residential and specifically BTR investment experience to the Grainger team.

  Grainger

  Director of Investments, Acquisitions

  Steven Clark

  Director of Investments, Acquisitions

  Grainger

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  Alexa Baden-Powell

  Alexa Baden-Powell is a Senior Investment Manager for GPE, a FTSE 250 Real Estate Investment Trust specialising in investment and development of property in central London. Alexa has also recently been listed as the ‘Investment Innovator’ in BisNow’s list of Power Women changing UK real estate. Alexa is responsible for driving new acquisitions and sales, including the cycle of deal origination, underwriting, due diligence and transaction execution. Recent projects include, the purchase of the Soho Square Estate (£70m), and the acquisitions of 141 Wardour Street (£39m), 6-10 St Andrew Street (£30m) and 7-15 Gresse Street (£36.5m).

  GPE

  Senior Investment Manager

  Alexa Baden-Powell

  Senior Investment Manager

  GPE

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  Nadine Buckland

  CEO

  Zenzic Capital

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  Tom Roberts

  Tom joined L&G in April 2013. Since then, he has been responsible for transactions valuing over £6.5bn for a diverse range of funds managed by L&G. Prior to joining L&G, Tom spent 8 years working for global real estate advisory firm DTZ. As a Director in their Business Space Investment team, he advised on the acquisition or disposal of over £3bn of commercial property in the UK.

  Legal & General Investment Management

  Head of Strategic Investment

  Tom Roberts

  Head of Strategic Investment

  Legal & General Investment Management

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  Hugh White

  Hugh has headed the National Capital Markets team since 2013, having joined BNP Paribas in 2012, and sits on the Commercial Markets Board. He provides investment brokerage and advisory services to a range of institutional, property company and private investors located in both the UK and overseas working closely with BNP Paribas’ International Investment Group. Based in London he covers business space with a specialism in the office sector built up over more than 20 years. This experience enables Hugh to advise clients seeking to navigate both the cyclical and structural changes present in the current market. He has a strong network resulting in over £600M of transactions in the last 4 years alone both on and off market. In addition to brokerage he provides strategic advice to clients through a number of retained roles. These include sitting on the Oversight Committee of a UK Family Office. His clients include Abrdn, Cervidae, CPG, Custodian, Federated Hermes, Iroko Zen, Legal & General, Puffin Point, Royal London, Tesco Pension Investment, Tristan Capital and Weybourne. Sale transactions of note include the Pelican Portfolio on behalf of Royal London for £40M which is under offer, Landmark Place, Slough on behalf of Federated Hermes for £15.6M, 1-7 Upper Street, a mixed use block in Islington, for £19M on behalf of Legal & General, the Cisco HQ beside Heathrow Airport on behalf of Evans Randall for £135M, the Microsoft HQ, Thames Valley Park, Reading on behalf of FI Real Estate for £100M and advising on a £20M manufacturing unit sale & leaseback. Recent acquisitions include the Morgan Stanley HQ in Glasgow purchased on behalf of Iroko Zen for £50M, One Whitehall Quay, Leeds (Won Costar Deal of Q2 2023) and 65 Woodbridge Road, Guildford for £12M and £13.1M respectively. He is currently advising on a 4m sqft industrial JV scheme on behalf of a private investor, on a subject to planning basis. Hugh holds an MA from Cass Business School and is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors.

  BNP Paribas Real Estate UK

  Head of National Capital Markets

  Hugh White

  Head of National Capital Markets

  BNP Paribas Real Estate UK

• Moderator

  Robert Gordon Clark

  Co-Founder

  LCA

Exploring London's Construction & Development Pipeline

Assessing London's major asset classes and where they stand

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  Toby Pentecost

  Toby Pentecost is Senior Vice President and co-head of Trammell Crow Company’s (TCC) U.K. Office Development team. In this role, Toby has direct oversight of the firm’s U.K. office development and investment activities and is responsible for identifying new opportunities to expand TCC’s development business within the London and U.K. markets. Toby is based in London. Prior to joining TCC, Toby was the co-founder of Candour, a privately owned operating partner and development manager specializing in development and asset management of highly complex commercial projects in London and across the U.K. As co-founder and shareholder in Candour, he was responsible for the sourcing, structuring, and management of new developments and acquisitions through all phases of the development process including feasibility, concept planning, entitlement, design, financing, construction, leasing, and monetization. At the point at which TCC acquired Candour in October 2023, it had a combined 850,000 square feet of commercial development and asset management assets either ongoing or in pipeline. In the five years since co-creating Candour, Toby developed strategies for and/or delivered real estate activities with a cumulative GDV of over £0.5bn. He has over 18 years of business experience with a focus on offices sector and strengths in deep understanding of occupier trends and markets. During his time at Candour, Toby was instrumental in the delivery of several key deals in London and U.K. markets, including the Welcome Building (215,000-square-foot speculative office development in Bristol with Tristan Capital Partners and Apollo Global) GDV £150m; 39 Deansgate (150,000-square-footoffice development in Manchester) GDV £100m; 20 Gresham Street (250,000-square-footCity of London office repositioning) GDV £300m; 25-28 Old Burlington Street (60,0000square-foot London Mayfair office and gallery redevelopment with The Pollen Estate) GDV £200m; and Heathrow Airport Logistics development (250,000-square-foot strategic land development with Hines) GDV £110m. Prior to co-founding Candour, Toby held roles at Colliers International, Montagu Evans and Quadrant Estates, all in London.

  Trammell Crow Company

  SVP

  Toby Pentecost

  SVP

  Trammell Crow Company

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  Clare Harrison

  Clare Harrison is a Development Director in the London team and is responsible for an exciting pipeline of redevelopment opportunities in the St James’s area of the London portfolio that will support London’s renewal, helping it continue to be locally relevant and globally distinctive. The Crown Estate is adopting a place-led approach to activities in this area and she has led in developing the Haymarket District Plan to guide activities and investment to maximise the potential of TCE’s contiguous ownership. She is passionate about innovation, exemplar sustainable development, and improving the quality of peoples' lives through development of vibrant inclusive places. She initially trained and worked in architecture, before moving into senior roles for Mace and Grosvenor - where she led large masterplan and mixed-used developments, in the UK and internationally. Prior to joining The Crown Estate two years ago, Clare led on the delivery of a new neighbourhood in Bermondsey, for Grosvenor, to deliver 1,548 high quality, low carbon build to rent homes, as well as flexible commercial space and a mix of ground floor uses. Having previously supported in the delivery of Barton Park, a 900 home, mixed-use, masterplan development in Oxford, where Grosvenor was the master-developer.

  The Crown Estate

  Development Director

  Clare Harrison

  Development Director

  The Crown Estate

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  Phil Haddleton

  Phil is a principal at global real estate investment manager BGO and a core member of the firm’s central London equity investing team. Phil has a multi-disciplinary role across the full property lifecycle, specializing in acquiring “brown” commercial assets and repositioning them through refurbishment or redevelopment into best-in-class schemes with leading ESG and amenity credentials. Within London, BGO has £1.2 billion of assets under management including within its WELPUT fund, a specialist central London office fund and various separate account mandates. The firm has a 2 million sq ft development pipeline in the city, including 105 Victoria Street (500,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme) and Portman Square House (140,000 sq ft office retrofit scheme). Phil’s recently completed projects include 78 St James’s Street, a multi-award winning retrofit and extension scheme of a 120,000 sq ft Grade II* listed heritage building, which pioneered a hospitality and amenity-led approach within the office sector. He has also advised on the repositioning of assets within wider European markets, including in Madrid, Rome and the Netherlands. Prior to joining BGO, Phil held roles at London developer Quintain and consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. He currently serves as a board member for the Baker Street Quarter Partnership BID.

  BGO

  Principal

  Phil Haddleton

  Principal

  BGO

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  Paul Rickard

  Paul is Chief Executive of Pocket Living. With 25 years’ experience across real estate development, funding, and investment, he has delivered over £4bn of transactions, built resilient platforms for growth, and influenced housing policy at national level. He has led entrepreneurial growth and diversification and positioned the company as a national voice for SME developers. Paul also chairs Qflow, a global tech start up that’s leveraging AI to track materials and waste during construction to ensure we build it right the first time.

  Pocket Living

  Chief Executive Officer

  Paul Rickard

  Chief Executive Officer

  Pocket Living

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  Glenn Ruddy

  Glenn deals in all aspects of commercial property, acting for private property companies, consortiums, funds and high net worth individuals with his experience extending to commercial and residential development, including acquisitions, funding construction, lettings and disposals. Glenn also advises lenders and borrowers on a wide range of real estate financing transactions, including investment and development facilities as well as refinancing and restructuring of existing facilities. In addition, Glenn leads the Real Estate team's offering for South East Asian developers and investors, particularly from Malaysia and Singapore, investing into the UK real estate market.

  DAC Beachcroft

  Partner

  Moderator

  Glenn Ruddy

  Partner

  DAC Beachcroft

The London Skyscraper Review

With over 75 new skyscrapers approved for development since 2023, learn where these major projects stand and how it will change London's skyline in the future

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  Peter Riley

  Peter is Head of Capital Solutions and leads the UK Commercial investment and asset management teams at M&G Real Estate. He is a member of the M&G Real Estate Executive committee and sits on the UK, European and Long Income investment committees. Peter joined the business in 2010 and was previously a co-fund manager within the long income division, investing across the UK and Europe in all sectors. Prior to this he held responsibilities for the management of direct and indirect real estate portfolios in the UK and Europe in addition to managing large joint ventures on behalf a large separate account mandate. Before joining M&G Real Estate, he worked for DTZ Investment Management and went on to join their Corporate Finance team. Peter has 18 years’ experience in the real estate industry. Peter graduated from the University of Liverpool with a first-class BA (Hons) degree in Economic and Social History and also gained an MSc in International Real Estate from the University of Reading. He is a qualified Chartered Surveyor (MRICS) and also holds the Certificate in Corporate Finance (ACSI) from the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

  M&G Real Estate

  Head of Capital Solutions and UK Commercial

  Peter Riley

  Head of Capital Solutions and UK Commercial

  M&G Real Estate

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  Phoebe Geake

  Co-Head Central London, Property & Asset Management

  JLL

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  Meredith Davey

  Meredith leads ESG and Sustainability across the Sellar portfolio, establishing and overseeing the implementation of all corporate and project ESG strategies to achieve excellence. A dual chartered engineer and environmentalist, previously Meredith was a director of a leading global consultancy and has delivered globally at the leading edge of sustainable performance. Within London Meredith has led multiple million sq ft of commercial space, and globally over 15m sq ft. Notable projects include ultra-sustainable London developments, technology company headquarters in the UK, US, Europe and Middle East, major experiential buildings in Singapore and masterplans at all scales including new cities.

  Sellar

  ESG Director

  Meredith Davey

  ESG Director

  Sellar

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  Mike Phillips

  Mike is UK editor of Bisnow. Before this, alongside three friends he bought pan-European property mag EuroProperty out of non-existence and re established it before selling the business to PropertyEU. Prior to that he was editor of Property Week, and has also worked for Estates Gazette.

  Bisnow

  UK Editor

  Moderator

  Mike Phillips

  UK Editor

  Bisnow