Eastdil grows in France with Finae tie-up

Eastdil Secured, the New York real estate investment banking arm of Wells Fargo Securities, has created a strategic alliance with Finae Advisors, a Paris-based firm focused on debt advisory.

Describing Paris as “one of the top real estate markets in the world,” Roy March, CEO of Eastdil Secured, said the alliance would “broaden our reach and capabilities within France and be of great benefit to the clients of both firms”.

Finae has specialised in sourcing, raising and structuring real estate debt over the last five years since its establishment in 2010 by its two principals, Delphine Benchetrit and Michaela Robert.  Benchetrit was a director at Lehman Brothers from 2003 to 2008, while Robert was a director at Morgan Stanley from 2005 to 2009.

Michael Cochran, the London-based joint leader of Eastdil Secured’s European business with James McCaffrey, spoke exclusively to Real Estate Capital. He said: “Whilst we have conducted selected business on the European continent since 2012, we have seen a sizable increase in our non-UK activities over the past two years. With over 20 different nationalities on our London-based team, we’ve been able to serve our client’s needs to date, but also believe‎‎ that we need to increasingly understand the fabric of local markets.”

Regarding Finae, he said: “Beyond their local knowledge and trusted relationships with owners and capital sources, they have a terrific track record in completing structured transactions, including for many of our existing clients. We believe that our affiliation will be complementary to both of our firms.”

Cochran added that Eastdil’s approach to the French market would remain the same. “Our deals tend to be larger and often transcend the local market in terms of attracting capital. That’s where we’ll continue to concentrate our efforts and we’ll continue striving to provide more value than others that way.” ‎

Eastdil Secured is active in investment property sales, debt placement and commercial mortgage sales in the US and Europe and, since 2010, has completed transactions totaling more than $970 billion. The firm has 10 offices in the US as well as in London and Hong Kong.

Last year, the London-based team advised on $22.5bn of debt placement and loan sales making it the biggest of 15 European real estate debt advisers profiled by Real Estate Capital in September.

Michael Rhydderch, Cushman & Wakefield’s former star pan-European broker, is the latest appointment at managing director level.