The 2022 edition of our annual list of leading lenders serves as a snapshot of an industry functioning during challenging times. Below is part one of the alternative lenders making their mark in Europe.

abrdn

Senior, whole loan lender
Active in UK, with a growing focus on continental Europe

Lending in 2021: €600m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €350m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €2.2bn

The UK manager’s €350 million of lending in the first three quarters of 2022 was across five transactions. They included: a £60 million, four-year facility to finance a prime office building in Aberdeen; a £48 million, 28-year financing of a London residential portfolio for a private family office; and the £120 million financing of a luxury London hotel portfolio for five years. In 2021, it introduced a sustainability framework, and has since provided two sustainability-linked loans, totalling around £110 million and featuring margin ratchets of five to 10 basis points if sponsors meet sustainability improvement targets.

AEW

Senior, whole loan, development lender
Active across Europe with focus on France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland

Lending in 2021: €664m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €384m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: £2bn

The Paris-based manager’s senior lending in 2022 to the end of Q3 was heavily skewed towards construction schemes, with €324 million of its €384 million volume accounted for by development financing. In January, it participated in a €303 million senior loan secured by 20 logistics assets under speculative development in Italy, in a 46.9 percent loan-to-cost transaction. In July, it participated in a €153 million senior loan secured by an office building under development in Paris, in a circa 60 percent LTC deal. In a German transaction in June, it took part in a €188 million senior financing of 75 Berlin residential assets.

AgFe

Senior, whole loan lender
Active in UK and continental Europe

Lending in 2021: €600m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €300m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €2bn

UK manager AgFe’s deals included a £60 million, five-year fixed-rate facility for AEW UK REIT, to refinance bank debt and enhance the borrower’s returns at a time of rising rates. In April, it provided property firm Ardent UK with a £100 million acquisition and accordion financing facility for its UK industrial and logistics fund. AgFe provided it on behalf of a European insurance account mandate. In December 2021, the firm provided £121 million to Europa Capital and Generation for the acquisition of six student housing assets. On ESG, AgFe developed an in-house framework to facilitate its benchmarking for existing and prospective transactions.

AllianceBernstein

Senior, mezzanine, whole loan, development, preferred equity, loan-on-loan lender
Active across Europe

Lending in 2021: €300m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €260m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €712m

The US manager entered the European lending market in November 2020 with €1.2 billion and has since made its mark. Deals include a loan of undisclosed size in September to a fund managed by SVP Global for two luxury residential developments in Spain. In July, it provided a €102.4 million, 58 percent whole loan for a portfolio of Dutch office and retail properties for a family office. In September, it provided a €50 million whole loan for a German hotel portfolio acquisition financing in which the sponsor identified a pool of undervalued and undermanaged assets. The loan will be used to acquire three of the hotels, recapitalise another and to refurbish and rebrand all four.

Allianz Real Estate

Senior, development lender
Active in Germany, France, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands

Lending in 2021: €1.9bn
Lending in 2022 to end Q2: €2.1bn
Loan book at end Q2 2022: €12.6bn

Around a quarter of the German lender’s half-year volume related to short- and medium-term development and transitional loans. In March, it provided £200 million to a consortium for the development of 105 Victoria Street, London, a 500,000-square-feet sustainable mixed-use scheme. It was active in prime retail, with a €466 million December 2021 loan to refinance a prime portfolio across France and Belgium, and a €400 million role, in May, in the €700 million sustainability-linked refinancing of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s Westfield Centro mall in Germany. Other deals included a €301 million refinancing loan to Dutch developer Intospace for six logistics assets in the Netherlands and a €226 million refinancing of a Madrid office portfolio.

Apollo Global Management

Senior, mezzanine, whole loan, development lender
Active in UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden

Lending in 2021: €4.3bn
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €3.4bn
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €9.4bn

In its 2022 lending to the end of Q3, Apollo’s construction facilities accounted for €2 billion and there was €300 million of subordinated debt. In May, it originated a £540.2 million loan, as part of a £772.4 million recapitalisation, for Chinese developer R&F Properties, to refinance and fund the completion of a residential and hotel development in London’s Nine Elms. In June, it provided €241.3 million to refinance the acquisition and development of 18 logistics properties in Italy, Spain and France for the EQT Exeter Europe Logistics Value Fund IV. In July, it provided €99.6 million to refinance the acquisition and outstanding capex costs of three five-star hotels in Ibiza, Scotland and Sardinia. In April, it provided £407 million to LaSalle Investment Management for two UK designer outlets.

Ares Management

Mezzanine, whole loan, development lender
Active across Europe

Lending in 2021: Zero
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €600m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €600m

A newcomer to this list, US manager Ares began lending against European real estate in January and closed €600 million of business in the year to the end of Q3. In January, it provided a €113 million acquisition loan to manager Blue Colibri to acquire a 667,000-square-foot, fully occupied office building in Belgium. In September, it provided €147 million to US manager Fortress to support the stabilisation of a private rented sector residential asset in Dublin, comprising 393 units. In September, it also provided a €98 million facility to developer Verdion to support the refinancing and development of a portfolio of five logistics assets in Germany and Denmark.

Aviva Investors

Senior lender
Active in UK

Lending in 2021: c€1.6bn
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: c€570m
Loan book at end Q2 2022: c€9.7bn

In May, the UK manager surpassed its stated aim to originate £1 billion in ‘sustainable transition’ real estate debt by 2025, after closing a £227 million refinancing to London-based property group Romulus. The loan financed office, hotel, retail and leisure assets. In July, it provided another example of a sustainable transition loan, with a £43.5 million, eight-year debt facility to developer Urban Splash. The loan is secured against the company’s workspace portfolio of 25 assets and includes a commitment by Urban Splash to work towards sustainability improvements of the assets. In another significant deal, in September, Aviva provided £105 million of refinancing to South African specialist industrial REIT Equites Property Fund, secured against a portfolio of five UK regional distribution assets.

AXA IM Alts

Senior, whole loan, development lender
Active in France, UK, Benelux, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain

Lending in 2021: c€2.8bn
Lending in 2022 to end June: €990m
Loan book at end Q2 2022: c€10.9bn

The French insurer remained a major provider of European real estate debt, mainly in the secondary market and in club deals. In 2021 and 2022, its commercial real estate finance platform has invested in senior, whole loan and development financings across the offices, logistics, multifamily, student housing, data centres and healthcare sectors. In 2022, to the end of Q3, its European lending was 40 percent weighted towards senior secured loans, with 35 percent in whole loans and 25 percent for transitional property or development. Sixty-six percent of its lending during the period was in new loans, with the remainder in refinancing or top-up deals.

Barings

Senior, development lender
Active in UK, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, France, Belgium

Lending in 2021: €953m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €385m
Loan book at end June 2022: €3.3bn

Barings’ lending in 2022 to the end of Q3 comprised senior and whole loan investment debt, entirely for new loans. Deals included its August financing for Round Hill Capital of the refurbishment of the Rembrandt Park One building in Amsterdam into a grade A sustainable office building with two additional floors. In May, in the UK, it provided a seven-year, €56.4 million loan to finance the acquisition of The Brewery retail and leisure park in Romford, near London, by a joint venture between Schroders Capital UK Real Estate Fund and Immobilien Europa Direkt. The two loans were structured as sustainability-linked facilities.

BentallGreenOak

Senior, mezzanine, whole loan, development lender
Active in UK, Germany, Netherlands, Nordics, Ireland

Lending in 2021: €1.65bn
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €462m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: c€3bn

The New York-headquartered manager’s 2022 lending has been focused on value-add business plans including developments, refurbishments and repositioning projects. In December 2021, it provided around £108 million for the acquisition and development of a London office asset, for which the sponsor is targeting BREEAM Outstanding. In March, it provided €35 million for the redevelopment of three vacant buildings in Dublin. In June, it provided €61 million to finance the development of 342 apartments in Madrid, where the sponsor is aiming to address the lack of affordable rental housing in the Spanish capital. On ESG, BGO has lent approximately €1 billion on properties that incorporate green building certificates.

Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies

Senior, mezzanine, whole loan, development lender
Active in UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Benelux, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Nordics

Lending in 2021: €6.5bn
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €3.8bn
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €13bn

During the first nine months of 2022, the US mega-manager’s European property lending business originated 30 loans, of which €2.4 billion financed investments and €1.4 billion was for development. In March, it co-originated a £465 million loan to finance Village Hotels, a UK hotel business owned by private equity firm KSL Capital Partners. The loan financed its existing 33 assets and funds future growth. In June, it provided a £422 million loan to UK property investor Cain International for the acquisition and development of a three million square foot portfolio, which marked Cain’s entry into the UK logistics market.

BNP Paribas Asset Management

Senior lender
Active in France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, CEE, Nordics

Lending in 2021: €175m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €389m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €816m

The private debt business of French banking group BNP Paribas participated in numerous loans across Europe. It provided €40 million in an Italian logistics financing and the same amount for the repositioning of a Frankfurt office building and for 151 Finnish multi-family assets. In the Netherlands, it provided €45 million for a Dutch logistics portfolio. Other deals included a €35 million participation in a pan-Nordic office portfolio financing, and €15 million in a Central and Eastern European logistics transaction.

CAERUS Debt Investments

Senior, mezzanine, whole loan, development, loan-on-loan lender
Active in continental Europe

Lending in 2021: €13m
Lending in 2022 to end Q3: €276m
Loan book at end Q3 2022: €927m

Following a quiet 2021 for new lending, the German manager completed several loans in the first three quarters of 2022, almost evenly split between investment and development finance. In September, it provided a €67.5 million, four-year loan to refinance the refurbishment and reconfiguration of a city palace in Vienna into a five-star hotel and 12 high-end apartments. In the same month, it provided €100 million to refinance a mixed-use portfolio in the Netherlands, owned by a private Dutch investor, as part of a manage-to-core strategy. In April, it issued two new financings through its credit funds totalling €56 million for a German hotel portfolio and industrial park in the Netherlands.