Union Hanover Securities has been transformed into an investment grade hotel development and operations platform which aims to grow its current £350m portfolio to £1bn over the next five years. The re-engineered investment and development company announced a major refinancing that has enabled it to restructure and finance a series of major hires.
Capitalising on the rebound of the European property market
A substantial equity injection from EquityBridge Asset Management (EBAM) has allowed the company to assemble a dream team to capitalise on the rebound of the European property market.
Eric Jafari (pictured above), previously the Chief Executive and co-founder of BridgePoint Ventures, has been appointed as the European Managing Director to spearhead the initiative.
Jafari, a regular keynote speaker at hospitality and real estate finance conferences said: “EquityBridge Asset Management’s capital injection has provided us with the resources to develop an institutional grade platform with the experience and depth to cover all three facets of hospitality: property development, operations, and creative brand development. This provides us with a very clear and demonstrable competitive advantage in our space”.
Jafari’s former colleague Peter Debs has also moved across to Union Hanover as Managing Director with responsibility for the development of the group’s Americas initiatives.
Hospitality Director
Andrew Fowler, formerly the Director of Property Acquisition for StayCity Ltd, has been appointed as Hospitality Director. Jafari and Fowler are co-creators of the hospitality concepts Urban Villa and hotel/hostel chain Hoax which Union Hanover now intends on scaling up across European and American major gateway cities. The company currently has a HOAX in Liverpool and hotel developments in Aldgate, Waterloo, Stratford, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Portsmouth.
Fowler commented: “With limited resources Union Hanover was able to assemble a £350 million GDV portfolio. With EquityBridge’s backing and the new best-in-class team, there is no reason why we should not be able to grow our existing platform from £350 million to £1 billion within five years.”
Hotels Operations Director
Merzak Kaddour, the former Head of Hospitality Finance at National Australia Group (Europe), where he led the bank’s Hospitality Sector for both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank with responsibility for a £1.5bn hotel portfolio, is joining in April as Hotels Operations Director. He is a respected hospitality industry and structured finance professional with over 20 years of diverse, hands-on experience in areas of hotels & leisure operations and development, workouts and restructuring, asset management and debt origination.
European Development Director
Charles Cresser who formerly headed up a 30 plus strong team of project and cost managers at Jones Lang LaSalle is the new European Development Director for Union Hanover. He has operated in this role throughout EMEA building new businesses. Florida-based Richard Kiibler is the Development Director for Union Hanover Securities in the Americas with over 15 years of development and project management experience in the United States, Panama and Mexico.
Laura Prosser, previously a Senior Associate in the Global Real Estate Group at Ashurst LLP, has joined Union Hanover as General Counsel, and Muhammad Mushtaq has joined as Group Financial Controller. In his previous roles, he served in the same capacity for Auriga Holdings, Vakson Group, Grant Thornton International and Askari Group. Matthew Grzywinski, the principal of the New York City-based architectural firm Grzywinski and Pons has been appointed as the firm’s architectural and design counsel.
A formidable combination
Warren Malschinger, Managing Director of Guernsey-based real estate, private equity and asset manager EBAM explained his decision to back the new platform: “Our investors have been very impressed with Union Hanover’s access to deal flow, creative and cutting edge innovation, and design development. These valuable skills have now been further enhanced with the very experienced delivery team that has been assembled. I have got to know Eric, Charles, Laura, Peter and Andrew very well – they make a formidable combination.”