Octopus Real Estate and Bayview Asset Management have teamed up to provide two-to-five-year senior investment debt to the UK commercial real estate market.

The funding partnership has an initial commitment of 拢450m (鈧523.8m) to target loan opportunities of up to 拢25m, the companies said.

Nick Westoby, commercial fund manager, Octopus Real Estate, said the structural undersupply within the sub-拢25m part of the market 鈥漰rovides significant opportunity and plays to our strengths鈥.

鈥淭he granularity and liquidity of smaller loan sizes have been tested over the pandemic, showing robust performance. The opportunity to partner with Bayview was compelling, given their deep understanding of commercial real estate and wider corporate values.鈥

Benjamin Davis, CEO of Octopus Real Estate, said: 鈥淥ur partnership with Bayview further demonstrates the excellent range of opportunities available for local and international institutional investors to participate in the UK real estate market.

The new partnership follows a successful period for Octopus, having recently established the 拢175m Greener Homes Alliance with Homes England and announced a record 拢462m fundraise for the firm鈥檚 UK commercial bridging strategy, Davis said.

鈥漌ith specialist expertise across the residential, commercial and development sectors, Octopus is uniquely positioned to deliver upon the demand from institutional investors for high-quality, diverse real estate assets that meet a range of investment criteria,鈥 Davis said.

Zhu Gong, European structured credit, Bayview Asset Management, said: 鈥淲e welcome this opportunity to work with Octopus, whose expertise will help us gain exposure to high-quality UK small-balance CRE loans.鈥

Pierre Lussato, head of Bayview International, Bayview Asset Management, said: 鈥淲e are very excited to partner with Octopus and help fill a financing gap in the UK real estate markets.

鈥漌e believe Octopus to be uniquely positioned to interact with asset owners through their entrepreneurial yet disciplined mindset. This will represent a further foray into non-bank lending for Bayview in Europe.鈥

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