UBS made a serious statement of intent last month when it unveiled Donald Belanger as managing director and head of EMEA real estate capital markets. Belanger joins after two years spent at Credit Suisse, where he held a similar European role, responsible for origination, structuring and distribution of all real estate debt in Europe.
Reporting lines
In his new role Belanger reports to Ramesh Singh, global head of securitized products and head of DCM Americas. He will work closely with Wilson Lee, head of EMEA real estate principal finance and head of real estate finance for Asia Pacific. Lee continues to report to Singh, having joined UBS in March 2005 by all accounts to set up a European CMBS business. His previous role was at Lehman Brothers, where he was head of European real estate investment banking. UBS’s European CMBS franchise was previously the remit of Leland Bunch, who has returned to the US to take up a new role at Bank of America.
Global CMBS was formerly run by Brian Harris, before he decamped to the now defunct UBS hedge fund, Dillon Read Capital Management. Belanger will focus on the capital markets aspect of the business, leaving Lee to look after the rest of the European real estate activities.
