Puma Property Finance appoints Gillon as director of hotels

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UK: Lender Puma Property Finance has appointed Louise Gillon as director, head of hotels, a newly-established role.

Gillon joins from Leumi UK, where she served as head of hotel finance for the past 16 years. Prior to this, she held the role of commercial credit analyst at AIB.

Her appointment with Puma comes as the firm plans to expand its hospitality lending platform. In May, the firm partnered with Madison International Realty which included a cornerstone investment to underpin the launch of Puma’s new institutional credit fund series.

The commitment will enable Puma to build a seed loan portfolio for the fund of over £150 million as part of targeting an overall fundraise of £350 million.

The company is also broadening 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.

“I am thrilled to be joining Puma at such an exciting time for the business, particularly as there is so much potential to deepen our funding of the hotels space,” said Gillon. “We are optimistic about the UK hotel sector, which continues to evolve through ongoing investments in refurbishment and repositioning of assets to maximise their trading potential.

“Additionally, the sector is increasingly embracing innovative technological solutions to enhance profitability and improve the customer experience, all while focusing on creating environmentally sustainable and resilient properties.

“As Puma accelerates its growth strategy and expands its market presence following the recent partnership with Madison, it is wonderful to be joining such a motivated and ambitious team. I’m looking forward to leading our expansion in the hotels sector,” she said.

Paul Frost, managing director of Puma Property Finance, added: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Louise to the team. Her experience and deep knowledge of the hospitality sector will be invaluable as we look to increase our exposure to this attractive asset class.

“The launch of our new debt fund series, on the back of our strategic partnership with Madison, gives us access to further attractively-priced, flexible capital to support our growing client base. We are excited to be investing in our senior squad as we enter this next phase of growth for the business.”