Development lender Silbury Finance, which is backed by Oaktree Capital Management, has appointed Grenville Turner (pictured) as chairman.
Turner brings over 40 years of experience in the residential real estate and finance sectors, and will support founding partners Gavin Eustace and Matthew Pritchard in delivering on the next stage of Silbury’s growth plans.
Until last year, Turner was non-executive chairman of Watkin Jones Plc, the residential for rent developer and manager.
He has extensive experience in the investment and property lending sectors, having been chairman of development lender Titlestone Ltd for three years until its sale to Paragon and was chairman of wealth manager Ascot Lloyd/Bellpenny for six years.
Turner was previously chief executive of Countrywide between 2007 and 2014, guiding it through the successful IPO in 2013. Prior to this he was a founding director of Rightmove and a non-executive director at property portal, Zoopla.
Since its launch in January 2021, Silbury has deployed c. £490m of senior finance across 13 schemes in the UK retirement living and residential sector.
It has enjoyed an especially strong H2 2022, originating c. £300m of new lending, taking advantage of continued borrower demand at the same time as more traditional and newer forms of finance stepping back due to legacy book issues or funding cost challenges.
Gavin Eustace, founding partner at Silbury Finance, said: “Grenville’s track record launching and running a number of blue-chip residential property and finance businesses speaks for itself.
“Whilst we are seeing strengthening demand for sustainability-linked, competitively priced senior debt, we are operating against a volatile backdrop, and we look forward to leveraging Grenville’s over 40 years’ experience as we accelerate our growth plans.”
Turner added: “The UK mid-ticket residential lending space was ripe for disruption, and Gavin and Matthew had the conviction and experience to launch, and subsequently scale, a product offering that is fully aligned with borrower needs.
“This is a rare opportunity to join a dynamic team, running an institutional quality platform in what is a hugely underserved part of the debt market.”
