LaSalle poaches new director from Strategic Value Partners

LaSalle Investment Management has poached a new director from Strategic Value Partners to work in its debt investments and special situations team, Real Estate Capital can reveal.

Daniel Pottorff will focus on western European investments and will report into group heads Amy Aznar and Michael Zerda. The team currently manages €1.9bn of capital and Pottorff will concentrate on the group’s two funds that are currently in their investment period – LaSalle Real Estate Debt Strategies II and LaSalle Residential Finance I – as well as help the team access special situations opportunities in Europe, including loan portfolio, corporate and equity deals.

At Strategic Value Partners, the alternative investment, private equity and hedge fund manager, Pottorff was vice president sourcing and underwriting European real estate-backed debt investments. Prior to this he worked at Morgan Stanley and British Land.

LaSalle’s Residential Finance I fund, which is run alongside Dutch pension fund manager APG, totals £440m and finances refurbishments or developments of student accommodation or residential schemes in Greater London. It offers whole loans at loan-to-cost ratios of up to 80% from £15m to £60m.

Its £600m Real Estate Debt Strategies II fund provides whole and mezzanine loans of £10m to £200m and can also lend up to an 80% loan-to-value ratio. It lends across the asset classes on European real estate with a particular focus on the UK and Germany.

Aznar said: “The debt investments and special situation team has grown significantly over the last few years and offers a diverse range of products in the real estate market. Along with this growth we continue to add highly skilled and experienced talent. Daniel is a strategic addition to the senior team, who will help us continue to drive growth and add value to our platform, which has become one of Europe’s largest alternative debt providers.”