Ashcombe advises Puma on strategic partnership with Madison International Realty
Ashcombe is pleased to announce that it has acted as exclusive financial advisor to Puma Capital Group on the strategic partnership recently entered into between Puma Property Finance (“Puma”), its real estate credit platform, and Madison International Realty (“Madison”).
Madison has acquired a 24.5% stake in Puma and made a significant cornerstone commitment to underpin the launch of Puma’s new institutional credit fund series. This cornerstone commitment will enable Puma to build a seed loan portfolio for the fund of over £150m as part of targeting an overall fundraise of £350m+. Madison Managing Director and head of its Growth Platform Investment Strategy, Mo Saraiya, will join the Puma board.
The strategic partnership with Madison builds upon Puma’s previous £500 million institutional funding platform, as Puma seeks to reinforce its position as one of the leading providers of development and stabilisation finance to experienced UK developers.
Puma has, to date, supported over £2.5 billion of developments, with a flexible mandate that allows it to provide loans across a broad range of asset classes and to all geographies of the United Kingdom. The new partnership with Madison will enable Puma to expand its range of lending products, including increasing its maximum development loan size from £50 million to £100 million and expanding its provision of standalone stabilisation loans for operational real estate assets. Madison’s investment will also support the continued growth of the Puma business as it seeks to attract the very best professional talent from the industry to join its experienced team.
David Kaye, Founder and CEO of the Puma Capital Group, commented:
“We are delighted to welcome Madison International Realty as a strategic partner to our Property Finance business. This important partnership with a highly respected institutional investor reflects and endorses our strong track record and will allow us to access substantial additional capital at attractive pricing, providing us with the firepower to launch our first discretionary institutional debt fund. Ashcombe’s extensive relationships and expertise in credit and asset management globally were instrumental in getting this transaction done.”
Andreas Wesemann, Partner at Ashcombe, commented:
“David and his team have built a highly profitable and distinctive retail and institutional investment management franchise across three asset classes – private equity, public equity, and real estate credit. The Madison transaction takes its Puma Property Finance business to a new level – we are pleased to have been able to play a part in it.”