Tell us about your role at Precede, what does your day-to-day look like?

My role as Chief Credit Officer is to oversee all aspects of Precede’s lending business, from the origination of new loans, through to the repayment of live loans. The credit team is split into two main areas; i) origination and execution (new loans), and ii) portfolio management (live loans).
My day starts off with a daily call with the Executive team (KD/RS) to discuss any material issues and to update them on new originations. The remainder of the day is spent on the following tasks:

Speaking to brokers / advisors / borrowers in relation to the origination of new loans (either negotiating terms loans or speaking to them about potential new opportunities).

Reviewing financial models and underwriting analysis with members of the credit origination team.

Reviewing legal documents and having meetings with borrowers and/or internal/external counsel in relation to deals in execution.

Speaking to our investors in relation to the current loan pipeline, deals in execution and any live loans in their portfolio.

Speaking to the portfolio management team in relation to the live loan portfolio.

Joining RS/KD in meetings with potential new investors.

Team management.

I am also a member of the board of directors and a member of the following committees: Credit Committee, Executive Committee, Valuation Committee.

The key day to day responsibilities of the credit teams are as follows:

Origination Team
– Origination of new loan opportunities (development and bridge)
– Underwriting and structuring of new opportunities and agreeing heads of terms with borrowers
– Preparation for Credit / Investment committees
– Execution of transaction documents in conjunction with the internal legal team

Portfolio Management Team
– Managing monthly drawdowns (development loans)
– Re-underwriting each loan on a monthly basis
– Reviewing waiver and consent requests and, where appropriate, making recommendations to credit committee
– Working with co-lenders / investors / agents / borrowers to ensure all parties are aligned on all decisions

Other Tasks
– Monthly board and credit committee meetings
– Monthly executive committee meetings
– Quarterly valuation committee meetings

What did your career path look like before Precede?

Prior to joining Precede I spent 21 years at Credit Suisse, the vast majority of which was in the Real Estate Finance team which originated pan-European commercial investment loans and then securitised them in the Titan Europe CMBS platform. From 2011 onwards, I was in charge of managing the wind-down of the firm’s remaining European CMBS exposure and, as part of the Non-Strategic Unit (bad bank division) I was also mandated to manage the workout of CS’ non-strategic portfolios of European Corporate Debt and Emerging Market Sovereign and Corporate Debt.

Prior to joining Credit Suisse, I spent 6 years at Lehman Brothers where I was an Oil Trader on the International Petroleum Exchange. After leaving Lehman, I spent 3 years as a self-employed Oil Trader.

What is your favourite thing about your role?

I love all aspects of working on and closing deals as part of a dynamic team. The highlights at Precede have been, closing our first deal (Chiswick), which also involved closing a senior ICA and a JV with Carlyle at the same time, and also the closing of Project ONE, which was a hugely complex transaction involving many parties, and which we closed in 2 months.

Helping to start the company with a handful of colleagues while working from home during COVID and closing multiple deals at the same time. The bonds created during this exceptionally busy time have created a really close-knit team.

The culture at Precede demands hard work but that doesn’t stop everyone in the company from having a voice at the table and everyone’s views are treated as valid.
There’s also a feeling that your colleagues really care about you as a person, and it’s drummed into us that family and health come first.

How has your past experience helped shape you in your role now?

My experience of working out multi-billion pound portfolios of loans over many years helped me to really understand what can go wrong with a loan, and the things you need to think about when structuring a new one. I’ve also learned over the years not to take negotiations personally and to try and maintain a balance throughout, which given the complex nature of the deals we work on, is invaluable.

Describe Precede Capital in three words
Never stop learning.