London-based investment manager, Downing LLP, is pleased to announce the appointment of John Pollington as Investment Director, and Oliver Pettafor, as a Loan Servicing Analyst, to its growing Property Finance investment team.

John joins Downing from Hampshire Trust Bank, where he spent the last four years as a Director of the challenger bank’s Property Finance team. John has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, with other previous roles including Structured Property Finance at Jordan International Bank and Investec. Oliver previously worked as an Analyst at ICG - London.

Parik Chandra, Head of Residential Development Finance at Downing LLP, said:

“We are extremely pleased to be adding further expertise to our expanding Property Finance team with the appointments of John and Ollie. John in particular brings a depth of experience which will be key for us as we, and our competitors, negotiate the headwinds caused by Brexit uncertainty.

That said, while the market feels more challenging than it did a year ago, there are still good deals out there. Our pipeline remains strong due to direct relationships with a number of developers and some strong intermediary relationships and we remain interested in expanding our network and supporting experienced developers.”

Downing Development Finance (DDF), established in 2018, has now committed loans of over £60 million, and the total GDV of schemes DDF have funded/are funding exceeds £100 million. This translates to facilitating the development of over 350 residential units across the UK.