Real Estate - UK Housing investment

Ben Fry is Managing Director, Housing at Gresham House and a Director of the two Registered Providers of Social Housing it manages, ReSI Homes Limited and ReSI Housing Limited. He joined the firm in March 2020 following the acquisition of TradeRisks where he was Managing Director and Investment Manager for its fund management division ReSI Capital Management.

Ben has 15 years’ industry experience, with 9 years social housing experience since joining TradeRisks in 2011. Ben has led the investment management for fund Residential Secure Income plc since IPO in July 2017, prior to which he led TradeRisks’ debt advisory services for housing associations, local authorities, and specialist residential accommodation.

Ben qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from Imperial College London.

Joe is a Director of Investment, focused primarily on sourcing and executing new investments for the Housing team. Prior to joining Gresham House, Joe worked for Lloyds Banking Group in their structured finance team, primarily supporting UK companies with the structuring and execution of secured capital markets transactions across the UK Real Assets space. At Lloyds, Joe was involved in a number of securitisations transactions as well as working within the corporate restructuring and private equity investment teams. Joe holds a BA (Hons) and MA from Durham University and is a CFA charter holder.

Narvinder joined Gresham House as Head of Origination in our housing team in November 2021 and was promoted to Director of New Business in November 2022.

Narvinder’s last 15 years have been spent delivering high quality residential schemes of various tenures, across England for private sector developers and landlords.  Narvinder brings a wealth of experience in planning, managing and delivering large housing led developments, including land assembly/purchase, contract negotiations, project monitoring, budget controlling and on-site delivery with partner organisations.  She has working knowledge stemming through all aspects of development, and has forged long-term relationships with development partners both private and public. Narvinder’s property expertise will help bridge the gap when deal making to deploy capital for housing investments.

Narvinder brings over 20 years’ combined experience of Project Management, Fund monitoring, commercial and residential led development across various sectors in the UK.

Narvinder holds a BSc (Hons) and Post Graduate diploma in Construction/Project Management, is a Member of the Association for Project Management (MAPM) and Member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).

Hannah joined Gresham House in July 2021 as a Director of Property, and is responsible for the overall management and performance of the portfolio.

Hannah has over 10 years’ experience in residential property, having worked in both private practice before moving client side. Before joining Gresham House, Hannah headed up the property team for a local authority owned developer where she oversaw acquisitions, sales and the management of the completed developments. Prior to that, Hannah was Head of Residential Strategy for a FTS250 listed business which specialised in residential freehold, long leasehold and BTR/ PRS assets.

Hannah is a Chartered Surveyor and holds a Bachelor’s in building surveying from London South Bank University.

Antoine Pesenti is Head of Capital Markets at Gresham House following the acquisition of TradeRisks in March 2020. Antoine spent 17 years at TradeRisks as a Senior Managing Director, where he was responsible for debt advisory and debt arrangement for bank facilities, private placements and listed bonds. During that time, Antoine also worked on missions for the World Bank to develop credit risk management models for several national treasuries. Prior to TradeRisks, Antoine worked on the development of Monte Carlo simulation short-rate models for risk management at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and was assistant professor of mathematics in Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Ecoles in France. Antoine holds an MSc in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics, an MPhil in Mathematics from ENS Paris-Saclay, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Sorbonne University, Paris.

Oliver is an Associate Director at Gresham House, following the acquisition of TradeRisks in March 2020. He focuses on developing new and maintaining existing relationships, as well as the financial modelling of new acquisitions for ReSI.

He was previously Head of Acquisitions for a Real Estate developer focusing on development origination and analysis and headed a team of four acquiring and reviewing schemes with a GDV of up to £1bn.

He has six years of housing and residential investment experience and holds a BSc in Real Estate, Finance & Investment from Cass Business School.

Gourav is a Director in the Capital Markets team at Gresham House, following the acquisition of TradeRisks in March 2020,  and is a member of the Housing and Infrastructure team. Since joining  TradeRisks, he has been responsible for executing on advisory engagements for both housing associations and infrastructure clients.

He previously worked at Arcus Infrastructure Partners in their core infrastructure investments team, where he was responsible for reviewing and executing on new investment opportunities. Prior to this, Gourav worked at PIMCO in the financial advisory team where he was responsible for assessing the credit quality of infrastructure loan books. He also spent a number of years working in the infrastructure advisory team of EY in the UK and Australia. Gourav’s recent work experience includes advising a fibre network developer on funding their projects.

Gourav has over 15 years of professional experience in financial advisory and investment. He holds a Master of Commerce degree from Macquarie University and qualified as an Actuary with the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.

Brandon joined Gresham House as Deputy Fund Manager in our Housing team in November 2021 and was promoted to Investment Director in November 2022.

Prior to joining Gresham House, Brandon worked at real estate private equity firm Singerman Real Estate, focusing primarily on seniors housing acquisitions and asset management and investor relations. Prior to Singerman Real Estate, he worked as a corporate finance analyst at Ventas, Inc., a market listed healthcare REIT based in Chicago, IL (USA).

Brandon has 11 years of experience in real estate investing and corporate finance, and holds a BA in economics from Williams College.

Dmytro joined as a Senior Associate in the Capital Markets team and was promoted to Manager in November 2022. He has more than 14 years of extensive finance experience in the energy industry.

He has engaged in power plant developments, constructions, and operations in Europe (the UK, Ukraine, Poland, and Romania) and Africa (Togo, Sierra Leonne). Dmytro’s expertise includes utilities, oil & gas production, and sustainable & renewable energy (hydro, energy-from-waste). Dmytro worked as a project finance specialist with a US-based company – Wheelabrator Technologies, where he also led the business analytics function in the UK. Prior to Wheelabrator, he worked as a Senior Consultant for Risk Advisory at KPMG UK.

Dmytro has an MBA at Said Business School in the University of Oxford. He also holds BA (hons) and MA (hons) in Finance from Kyiv National Economics University after Vadym Hetman.

Clive joined Gresham House in July 2022 to work on the Housing Funds managed by the Housing division.

Clive has worked in the property funding area for the last 12 years as an FD of Development and Project Management Companies. Prior to this, Clive has acted in advisory roles for management teams and as an investment adviser to the Family Office of a UK peer.

Clive has a BA (Hons) in Accountancy from City University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Clive is also acting Chairman of the St John Priory Group for the Royal County of Berkshire, representing at county level the interests of The Priory of England and the Islands of The Order of St John, the charitable trust that owns and runs St Johns Ambulance.

Alasdair joined Gresham House in July 2021 as a Senior Associate in the Debt Advisory team and promoted to Investment Manager in November 2022.

Prior to joining, Alasdair spent three and a half years in EY’s Audit department, where he worked with a range of FTSE 250 listed clients.

Alasdair is an ACA qualified chartered accountant and holds a first-class honours degree in Physics from the University of Bristol.

Sergey started out as a Real Estate Analyst at ReSI Capital Management and was responsible for identifying, implementing and reviewing programmes of work required to develop and improve the company’s existing portfolio of properties. In October 2019, Sergey was promoted to Associate with further responsibility for portfolio asset management, general portfolio analysis, reporting and complying with investor/REIT requirements, and assisting with the preparation of quarterly and year end reports. Prior to joining ReSI CM, he managed a portfolio of commercial real estate. In November 2022 Sergey was promoted to Investment Manager.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Financial Services and a Master’s Degree in International Business and Economics from Westminster Business School.

Alex is Senior Advisor, Housing and Chief Executive of ReSI Capital Management and Executive Director of ReSI Homes Limited, the for-profit Registered Providers managed by Gresham House. Alex was the founder and Chief Executive of TradeRisks Limited from 2000 to March 2020, when it was acquired by Gresham House. Prior to TradeRisks, Alex worked for seven years at JP Morgan where he founded its risk advisory businesses, then HSBC leading the banks’ global risk advisory business, and Tokai Bank Europe as head of Capital Markets and Merchant Banking. Alex has 33 years of experience in the finance industry, with the last 20 years focusing on social housing.

He holds a first-class honours degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of London and a doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.

Pete has been Executive Director of Housing Management at Gresham House since March 2020, following the acquisition of TradeRisks. He is responsible for due diligence on residential acquisitions and operational performance by ReSI’s property managers and leaseholders. He has built a strong reputation in the housing sector on topics like the market dynamics and development economics. He has been an advisor to the Greater London Authority, the Scottish Government, and was a member of the team that won the Wolfson Economics Prize in 2014 on housing supply. Pete was Chief Executive of Notting Hill Housing Group and Chief Officer at two London Boroughs. He joined TradeRisks Ltd in 2013 and has 46 years’ experience in residential portfolio management. Pete studied Engineering and Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, is an Alumni of the London Business School, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Mark is the Executive Director of ReSI Housing and ReSI Homes. He joined Gresham House in March 2020 following the acquisition of TradeRisks. Before joining ReSI Housing, Mark spent 12 years as a Chief Executive of Circle Housing Group, a 65,000-unit housing association, before merging it into the Clarion Group, the largest housing association in the UK. Prior to that, Mark held Chief Executive roles at Anglia Housing Group and Nene Housing Society. He has 38 years’ social housing experience and has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing since 1986.

Jamie joined Gresham House in April 2022 as a Senior Associate in our Housing team and was promoted to Investment Manager in November 2022.

He focuses on creating robust longstanding relationships with developers, contractors, Housing Associations and Local Authorities to build a national pipeline of new business opportunities.

Prior to Gresham House, Jamie worked at the private affordable housing developer Pocket Living for 7 years. Working in their land and finance teams, Jamie focused on development origination, analysis, planning applications, contract negotiations, project monitoring, budget controlling and managing the execution of investment strategies throughout the various stages of the development cycle.

Jamie holds a BSc (Hons) from the University of Nottingham and a first-class MA from the Royal Agricultural University. He is also a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).

Alistair is the Investment Director of the Housing team at Gresham House having joined the firm in January 2021. He has over 15 years of principal Real Assets investment experience, with a particular focus on the residential sector, including UK Build to Rent and US Multifamily.

Before joining Gresham House, Alistair worked at real estate private equity firm Henley Investment Management. He joined Henley following an attempted MBO of Atlas Residential’s UK business, where he led the Acquisitions team and was involved in over £250m of the earliest Build to Rent investments in the UK.

Alistair started his career as an Investment Banker with Macquarie Capital in London and holds an LLB (Hons) in Law from University College London.

Michael Woodman is Director of Structuring, Housing at Gresham House following the acquisition of  TradeRisks in March 2020.

Michael had been legal counsel at TradeRisks since 2012 and joined with experience in debt capital markets from an international law firm, having advised clients on a range of capital markets and banking transactions. Michael works closely with client managers and has been responsible for structuring, legal and settlement elements on all financing transactions arranged by TradeRisks. For ReSI Capital Management Limited, Michael has worked closely with the origination team, ensuring deployment of funds, and the investment management team, tasked with borrowing against fund assets in accordance with the investment objective.

Michael is a dual-qualified solicitor active in corporate finance since 2005 and holds an LLB (Hons) from University College London.

David is an experienced leader in both executive and non-executive roles. He has over 30 years’ experience in Chief Executive roles, most recently at the National Housing Federation. He is Chair of Clarion Housing Association, is a previous President of Housing Europe and previous Chair of Reall, an international development housing charity. He is also chair of The Good Home Inquiry, co-chair of #Housing 2030, a joint project for Housing Europe and UNECE, and a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Housing, Church and Community Commission. David frequently speaks on the challenge of optimistic leadership and the critical importance of governance. He has wide ranging media experience, is a well-regarded commentator and blogger and has extensive expertise navigating the world of politics and government. In June 2018 David was awarded a CBE.

Gillian brings to ReSI Homes over 30 years of housing and housing finance expertise, with a focus on policy development within the framework of regulatory standards.

She served as the Non-Executive Director for The Housing Finance Corporation from 2006 – 2012, where she was heavily involved in business strategy, financial policy and governance. This overlapped with her role as the Head of Private Finance at the former social housing regulator, the Homes & Communities Agency, where for 13 years she was responsible for relationships with lenders, investors, advisers, and credit rating agencies operating in the social housing sector. She has also been an authority on all aspects of social housing finance policy, including advising government departments, focusing on areas of regulatory standards, and being responsible for social housing sector guidance on treasury management.

Alex is Senior Advisor, Housing and Chief Executive of ReSI Capital Management and Executive Director of ReSI Homes Limited, the for-profit Registered Providers managed by Gresham House. Alex was the founder and Chief Executive of TradeRisks Limited from 2000 to March 2020, when it was acquired by Gresham House. Prior to TradeRisks, Alex worked for seven years at JP Morgan where he founded its risk advisory businesses, then HSBC leading the banks’ global risk advisory business, and Tokai Bank Europe as head of Capital Markets and Merchant Banking. Alex has 33 years of experience in the finance industry, with the last 20 years focusing on social housing.

He holds a first-class honours degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of London and a doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.

Ben Fry is Managing Director, Housing at Gresham House and a Director of the two Registered Providers of Social Housing it manages, ReSI Homes Limited and ReSI Housing Limited. He joined the firm in March 2020 following the acquisition of TradeRisks where he was Managing Director and Investment Manager for its fund management division ReSI Capital Management.

Ben has 15 years’ industry experience, with 9 years social housing experience since joining TradeRisks in 2011. Ben has led the investment management for fund Residential Secure Income plc since IPO in July 2017, prior to which he led TradeRisks’ debt advisory services for housing associations, local authorities, and specialist residential accommodation.

Ben qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from Imperial College London.

Pete has been Executive Director of Housing Management at Gresham House since March 2020, following the acquisition of TradeRisks. He is responsible for due diligence on residential acquisitions and operational performance by ReSI’s property managers and leaseholders. He has built a strong reputation in the housing sector on topics like the market dynamics and development economics. He has been an advisor to the Greater London Authority, the Scottish Government, and was a member of the team that won the Wolfson Economics Prize in 2014 on housing supply. Pete was Chief Executive of Notting Hill Housing Group and Chief Officer at two London Boroughs. He joined TradeRisks Ltd in 2013 and has 46 years’ experience in residential portfolio management. Pete studied Engineering and Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, is an Alumni of the London Business School, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Mark is the Executive Director of ReSI Housing and ReSI Homes. He joined Gresham House in March 2020 following the acquisition of TradeRisks. Before joining ReSI Housing, Mark spent 12 years as a Chief Executive of Circle Housing Group, a 65,000-unit housing association, before merging it into the Clarion Group, the largest housing association in the UK. Prior to that, Mark held Chief Executive roles at Anglia Housing Group and Nene Housing Society. He has 38 years’ social housing experience and has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing since 1986.