Canada Life hires from Nationwide, BAML and HPI to bolster lending team

Canada Life Investments (CLI) has poached three new staff, Real Estate Capital can reveal, from Nationwide Building Society, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and Hatfield Philips International as it looks to expand its London-based property lending business.

Dominic McHugh joins CLI’s real estate finance team as a new business manager. He will focus on originating long-term, fixed rate loans secured against commercial real estate investments throughout the UK and other European countries. McHugh was previously at Nationwide.

Adam Lawrence joins as a senior loan and credit risk manager. Lawrence, a chartered accountant, comes from BAML where he held a vice-president position in credit risk. He was previously at Lloyds Banking Group and Allied Irish Bank working in real estate lending.

Jerzy Belcen will join as a loan and credit risk manager. He comes from debt advisory firm Hatfield Philips and was previously at Jones Lang LaSalle.

The three additions are a boost to CLI’s real estate finance business, which lost its former number two, Colin Humphries, to UBS Global Asset Management in March. Humphries’s former position, business development director, is yet to be filled.

McHugh and Lawrence have started their roles at CLI and Belcen joins them on Monday. The three appointments take CLI’s real estate finance team to a dozen in size.

“Dominic, Adam and Jerzy are strong additions to our team, bringing with them significant expertise in their respective roles,” said Nicholas Bent, head of real estate finance at CLI.

“With more than a decade of experience in the property finance sector, Dominic will be able to hit the ground running and help us to broaden our position in the wider market. Adam’s and Jerzy’s track record in financial risk within the property industry ensures that we continue to meet the levels of excellence that we and our clients expect.”

Canada Life Investments makes senior, fixed-rate loans for the life assurance company’s annuity client. It has around 100 loans in its £2.2bn property book. In May, it completed its largest ever loan, a £197m, 20-year facility for an un-named private investor’s West End retail properties.