Giostra leaves Gatehouse Bank

Natale Giostra, Gatehouse Bank’s head of real estate financing has resigned “to pursue other opportunities”.

“We wish him all the best in his future endeavour,” said a spokesperson for the bank.

“Real estate finance remains a core focus for Gatehouse Bank, with a healthy transaction pipeline over the coming year. We will continue to invest in the team, as we build on the success we have achieved so far.”

The Islamic bank, which recently sold a 2% stake to asset manager Threadneedle, is actively recruiting a replacement.

Giostra had been at the bank 18 months and built up a four-strong team,  providing a £22.5m senior funding for the Holiday Inn in Acton, and more recently, winning a $100m mandate from a US investor to provide mezzanine finance in Europe.

At Gatehouse, Giostra was also raising capital for a  €100m Shariah-compliant securitisation, a commercial rental-backed security which would be based on a Parisian office property.  This capital-raising has been dropped, but Gatehouse intends to carry on with its strategy to develop CRBS.