Investment manager Downing strengthens private credit offering with a senior commercial real estate hire and an additional £500m funding line
Investment manager Downing has strengthened its private credit platform with the appointment of George Cotterell as partner and head of commercial real estate lending. The appointment forms part of a broader expansion of the firm’s private credit platform, which is supported by a new £500m institutional funding line that will further enhance the team’s deployment capacity.
Downing has committed £1.5bn to private credit transactions since 2010 and has built a lending business spanning residential and commercial real estate as well as structured credit. George’s appointment will help to further expand its commercial real estate lending activities.
George will lead the development of the commercial real estate lending strategy, sourcing and managing lending opportunities across a broad range of sectors. He joins Downing with more than 18 years’ experience in commercial real estate finance and investment transactions, including senior leadership positions at Venn Partners and ESR Europe.
Kostas Manolis, deputy CEO and head of private market investments at Downing says: “We continue to see significant opportunities across the lending market and private credit remains a key strategic growth area for Downing. The addition of George, together with our new £500m institutional funding line, marks an important milestone in the next phase of our expansion.”
“Over the past 15 years we have committed £1.5bn to private credit transactions with a great track record of supporting borrowers and delivering strong returns. Scaling up our commercial real estate lending is a natural progression that broadens our offering and allows us to continue supporting a wide range of borrowers while delivering attractive opportunities for investors.”
“George brings deep origination, execution and asset management expertise, as well as an extensive network across the commercial real estate market. We are delighted to welcome him to Downing and look forward to building a leading commercial real estate lending platform.”
George commented: “I’m delighted to join the Downing team. Downing’s stability, long-term approach and private credit expertise are the perfect foundation for a successful commercial real estate lending strategy.
Our strategy takes an “all-seasons” approach: protecting capital and generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through market cycles. We see tailwinds in certain real estate sectors from shifts in the digital economy, demographics, decarbonisation and geopolitical disruption but rigorous, bottom-up analysis of individual assets is just as critical to selection. The real estate market is structurally fragmented, rewarding those who bring detailed analysis, underwriting and credit understanding to every deal.”