Hilltop Credit Partners hires chief investment officer from Nomura

Real estate credit investment manager Hilltop Credit Partners has hired Claudiu Gheorghita, a former Nomura director, as chief investment officer. Gheorghita (pictured) will be tasked with building the residential-focused firm’s loan book across the UK and driving its expansion in Europe. Hilltop Credit Partners chief executive Paul Oberschneider said Gheorghita’s appointment will help the firm “respond to increasing demand for high-quality non-bank lenders as viable alternatives to traditional banks”. He joins from Nomura’s real estate and securitised products division, where he worked for more than four years and was leading the bank’s value-add and opportunistic principal finance business. Before that, he worked at Macquarie, originating and underwriting debt and equity real estate transactions in the UK and Europe. Gheorghita said: “I’m joining Hilltop with a clear objective of expanding the business operations across asset classes and gradually developing the platform across Europe. “Due to the current market conditions caused by the shift in new interest rates and geopolitical factors, we see an immediate need for flexible capital that can facilitate the start of new [residential] developments or that can help stabilise and complete existing ones.” To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@eg.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @EGPropertyNews Photo © Hilltop Credit Partners/FTI Consulting