Marc joined Investec in 2006 and most recently led the high-growth corporate real estate lending business, including establishing Investec’s position in funding both domestic and international PBSA developers.

Mark replaces Gary Dobson, who is retiring after 32 years at the bank and 10 years as head of real estate.

In his new role, Mark will lead Investec’s plan for 2021 to expand its distribution capabilities and leverage its sector expertise to partner with third-party lenders seeking exposure to the returns available from the high-growth UK real estate sector.

In the last nine months of 2020, Investec lent £400m across the private and corporate real estate market, growing its exposure to the structurally supported PBSA, residential for sale and rent, office and logistics sectors.

Since the start of 2015, Investec has committed over £820m in the PBSA market, financing more than 19,500 beds across 24 university cities.

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Commenting on the promotion, Mark said: “Despite the challenges faced in 2020, we continued to fund a range of borrowers, ranging from high-net-worth property entrepreneurs to global institutions, benefitting from the strength of the relationships that we have built up over 25 years of operation. 

“With a strong foothold in our key markets [and] the support of the wider bank, coupled with the vaccine rollout underway and favourable real estate fundamentals, we are bullish for the year ahead. 
 
“In particular, we see a real opportunity in the market to grow our distribution capabilities, allowing us to take on larger and more complicated deals on behalf of our clients. 

“We also hope to further establish our credentials in the living sector, especially growing our BTR exposure, a sector which has displayed its resilience over the past 12 months, as well as increased our exposure to logistics.”

Ryan Tholet, head of private banking at Investec, commented: “Mark is a highly experienced financier who, since joining, has established himself and Investec as the lending partner of choice for a number of leading global investors. 

“We would like to both recognise and thank Gary for his many years of service that have been instrumental in building the real estate platform into what it is today. 

“As a core part of this history, we believe Mark is the ideal person to deliver on the next stage of our growth strategy here, continuing what has gone before as well as helping us break ground in new, key initiatives.”