Alex has joined the specialist lender from HSBC, where he worked in the UK corporate real estate team, acted as a relationship director for three of the bank’s 10 largest European real estate clients and helped to arrange numerous loans from £5m-100m and beyond.

Prior to his time at HSBC, Alex was an associate at GE Capital Real Estate UK, where he worked as a risk underwriter on both debt and equity projects.

He started his career as a chartered surveyor and RICS-registered valuer at Lambert Smith Hampton.

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“I’m really excited to be joining Jon [Samuels], Mark [Posniak], Matt [Smith] and the rest of the team at Octane as they set out to create the next generation of lending,” said Alex.

“The development market is crying out for a dynamic lender with rapid decision-making and deal execution and, as ever, Jon’s positioning and timing were just right.

“My goal is to help build the best development lending platform in the market with a team and infrastructure that will enable us to look at all manner of proposals across the UK.”

The specialist lender’s initial development proposition will focus on conversions and lighter refurbishment and it aims to cater for heavy refurbishment by the end of 2017, with full, ground up funding by spring next year.