London – 17th November 2009: CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) today announced the appointment of Paul Lloyd to its Real Estate Finance division in London. Paul Lloyd has been appointed Head of Loan and Special Servicing reporting into Philip Cropper, who heads up CBRE’s Real Estate Finance division, in a move that further signifies the importance of the burgeoning CMBS market and one that strengthens the firm’s increasing presence in loan and special servicing.

Paul’s appointment is the second, senior banking hire to be made by CBRE since the summer and he is widely acknowledged as one of the most experienced bankers specialising in the CMBS servicing market. With over 20 years experience with Hill Samuel, Sanwa Bank, Morgan Stanley and latterly Deutsche Bank (from 2005), Paul was instrumental in creating the Morgan Stanley Mortgage Servicing platform and, more recently, in establishing and leading Deutsche Bank’s CMBS European Servicing & Special Servicing platforms.

Recent research published by Morgan Stanley & Co. International reveals that there is approximately €130 billion of outstanding CMBS in Europe (including the UK) with upcoming maturities of over €10 billion that are due for repayment in 2009 and into 2010.

Commenting, Paul Lloyd said: “One of the real challenges facing the CMBS market at the present time is how banks and borrowers will refinance the flood of maturing and defaulting CMBS.

“What attracts me, in particular, about the opportunity within CBRE’s Real Estate Finance division is the extraordinary deep bench of talent within the firm in research, valuations, surveying and market intelligence. CBRE’s globally integrated skill-set in real estate consultancy, coupled with a growing investment banking franchise, is exactly the cutting edge that clients are looking for in the current environment and I’m pleased to have joined the team at such a significant time.”

Executive Director, Philip Cropper, who heads CBRE’s Real Estate Finance division in London, added: “Given the fall in commercial real estate values as well as the reduction in liquidity in the debt markets, it is likely that more CMBS is going to default and transfer into special servicing. Therefore, it will become increasingly important to find innovative and alternative means of servicing, restructuring and working out the loans to maximise the return for the noteholders. Paul is one of the most experienced operators in this field and his arrival reflects the growing importance of CMBS worldwide and reinforces CBRE’s commitment to developing a specialist real estate investment banking capability to service the market.”