DEBT ADVISER OF THE YEAR (SUB-£50M DEALS): UK
Winner: Arc & Co
Second place: BBS Capital
Third place: Brotherton Real Estate

London-based Arc, which specialises in advising small to medium-sized developer clients, arranged multiple loans in 2022. Its transactions included arranging a £15.6 million (€17.7 million) construction loan for the development of high-end housing in Surrey. It also arranged a £10.2 million, 71 percent loan-to-value investment loan to refinance two regional serviced office assets in a deal that closed around the time of the UK’s controversial mini-budget in September.

DEBT ADVISER OF THE YEAR (SUB-€50M DEALS): CONTINENTAL EUROPE
Winner: First Growth Real Estate & Finance
Second place: CG Capital Europe
Third place: Westfort Advisors

First Growth Real Estate & Finance’s 2022 deals included sourcing a three-year, €20 million senior loan for an office building near Madrid. It also arranged a loan for a €35 million speculative logistics development in Milan; a €35 million debt restructuring for two French shopping centres; and a €9 million, 12-year loan for a logistics warehouse in France.

DEBT ADVISER OF THE YEAR (£50M-PLUS DEALS): UK
Winner: JLL
Second place: Eastdil Secured
Third place: Rothschild & Co

Property services firm JLL advised on the circa £200 million (€227 million) sustainable financing by PIMCO Prime Real of the 105 Victoria Street office-led scheme in London. In other deals, it sourced construction finance for the EDGE London Bridge office scheme for developer EDGE and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. It also sourced debt for the refinancing of the 12-asset Oxford Science Park for GIC and the University of Oxford’s Magdalen College.

DEBT ADVISER OF THE YEAR (€50M-PLUS DEALS): CONTINENTAL EUROPE
Winner: First Growth Real Estate & Finance
Second place: JLL
Third place: Three Stars Capital Partners

In a second awards win this year, First Growth was recognised for arranging €50 million-plus financings, including the €392 million refinancing of a portfolio of 84 hotels located across France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Italy. It also sourced a €135 million, seven-year loan for an ultra-prime retail portfolio in Paris; a €75 million, five-year loan for a portfolio of hotels in Spain and Madrid; and a €90 million acquisition loan for a portfolio of 37 fast food outlets in France.

LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR: EUROPE
Winner: Kirkland & Ellis
Second place: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
Third place: Dechert

Among its deals in 2022, Kirkland & Ellis represented Brookfield on the financing and refinancing aspects of the €4.6 billion takeover of German office REIT alstria, as well as the financing and refinancing of its €1.1 billion cash offer for Ireland’s Hibernia REIT, and the financing aspects of its €2.6 billion takeover offer for Belgian REIT Befimmo. In other deals, it advised private equity firm KKR and infrastructure manager GIP on the European acquisition financing of its $15 billion CyrusOne data centres purchase.

LOAN SERVICER OF THE YEAR: EUROPE
Winner: Mount Street
Second place: Trimont Real Estate Advisors
Third place: Oxane Partners

London-based Mount Street onboarded €24.4 billion of new CRE transactions in Europe during 2022, including €9.9 billion from its deal with UK insurer Aviva to outsource its assets alongside banking group HSBC. It added 11 new CRE clients in 2022 and hired 40 people. In the special servicing arena, it amended the Atlas Loan in the Helios – Eloc 77 CMBS and returned it to primary servicing as a corrected loan.

FINTECH COMPANY OF THE YEAR: EUROPE
Winner: FinLoop
Second place: Mount Street
Third place: Oxane Partners

Finloop, the digital financing marketplace platform that matches lenders, advisers and borrowers, is in its second year, and has evolved to include cloud-based loan management and servicing software. The software connects lenders, borrowers, advisers, lawyers and valuers on a transaction basis. The firm reported over 4,000 registered real estate investors across Europe.