Puma Property Finance, the specialist development finance lender, has made a series of new hires and promotions as part of its ongoing expansion plans.
The company provides first charge lending to professional developers and property investors for projects ranging from £10m to £50m across all major sectors, including residential, student accommodation, commercial, healthcare, and light industrial.
The new team members include Louise Peters (pictured), who has joined the company from Investec. Peters has over 15 years of experience in the banking and property finance industry and will be responsible for writing new business and managing aspects of Puma’s growing loan book.
Rahul Malde, who joined Puma Property Finance in 2020 from Hermes Investment Management, has been promoted to senior manager in the lending team.
He played a significant role in the company’s record-breaking year of new business in 2022, leading on the £33m loan for the redevelopment of Mountbatten House in Basingstoke into a market-leading sustainable office offering.
Sarah Milne, who joined Puma in 2019 from The Property Box Company plc, has also been promoted to senior manager.
Milne leads Puma’s sustainability initiatives, including a recently announced partnership with University College London, and worked on the company’s first loan under its new £300m partnership with Waterfall Asset Management.
Paul Frost, managing director of Puma Property Finance, said: “We are investing in building the capability within our specialist lending team in a period of growth for our business.
“I’m delighted to welcome Louise to the team, where her experience and insight will be highly valued. I’d also like to congratulate Rahul and Sarah on their promotions to senior manager.
“These team changes come off the back of an incredible year for Puma Property Finance, having completed a number of new transactions across the healthcare, build-to-rent and various other sectors, and we look forward to seeing further growth with our expanding team in 2023.”
