Squire Patton Boggs has appointed Jonathan Lent as partner in its Financial Services Practice Group in the London office. Mr. Lent joins from Gowling WLG, where he was a partner and co-led the firm’s real estate finance practice, as well as led the firm’s healthcare and hotel finance practices. Alongside Mr. Lent, the firm has appointed Bradley Silver as a director in the Real Estate Practice in London and two senior associates, Beatrice Sidi and Andrea Zemenides, in the Financial Services Practice. All three also join from Gowling WLG.
Mr. Lent specialises in real estate finance, advising banks, debt funds and alternative lenders, as well as investors, developers, listed corporates and private equity funds, on real estate finance transactions in the UK and across Europe. He provides bespoke debt financing solutions secured on structured real estate investment and development (both commercial and residential) and operational assets (including hotels, care homes, senior living, student accommodation and other alternative asset classes). He also has extensive experience advising on the funding of shopping centres, offices, industrial and logistics facilities, and portfolio transactions.
Among his significant matters, Mr. Lent has joined us fresh from closing the £570 million refinancing for the HC-One care group with Welltower, Inc.; has advised the hotel finance and development team of a major retail bank over the last five years on many of its most iconic and largest hotel deals in London and regionally around the UK; and has acted for two of the best-known student accommodation REITs on numerous investment, development and re-drawable facilities with a range of UK and US banks and financial institutions.
“We welcome Jon and his team to London,” said Paula Laird, leader of the Financial Services Practice in EMEA. “Jon is a versatile finance lawyer with a successful track record across the full spectrum of real estate finance. His additional expertise includes advising on Islamic-compliant investment and development deals, restructuring distressed real estate debt, and loan-on-loan and loan-to-own transactions.”
“This is a significant addition to our real estate offering,” commented Matt Dalzell, head of the European Real Estate Practice Group. “The additional resources and skills Jon and the team bring will enhance our client services, and the significant sector experience in hospitality and leisure, senior living and student accommodation complements our strong credentials and appetite for expansion in these areas.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Lent said, “I am delighted to be joining Squire Patton Boggs. The talented team there has strong relationships with diverse lenders, investors and developers, and deep sector knowledge, making it an ideal platform to expand the practice.”
The appointment of Mr. Lent and his team continues a wave of investment in the Financial Services Practice, which has seen two recent partner promotions, Douglas Anderson in Columbus and Tomohiko Kamimura in Tokyo, and multiple lateral hires: James Collis and Ian Yeo in London in 2019, Shibeer Ahmed in Dubai, Ahmed Butt in Riyadh, Jessica Kenworthy in Singapore and Derrick Cephas in New York in 2020 and, most recently, Kate Sherrard in Singapore and Jennifer Val in New York in 2021.