Hilco Real Estate appoints former West One head of sales

Hilco Real Estate Finance (HREF) has strengthened its UK lending team with the appointment of Matt Watson as a director.

Matt brings more than a decade of experience in bridging finance and the wider specialist finance market. His new role will be focused on leveraging relationships with both intermediaries and borrowers to provide client-focused solutions and help grow HREF’s loan book. 

Matt joins from West One Loans where he was head of sales for bridging and buy-to-let finance in the South, prior to which he was a business development manager at Enterprise Finance (now Aria Finance).

Launched in 2023, HREF offers short-term bridging loans for growth initiatives, acquisitions, development exits, and refinancing, and has recently launched a medium-term loan product to expand its offering. Providing loan sizes ranging from £3m to £100m+, the firm operates across a wide range of real estate sectors throughout the UK and Ireland.

Max Lewis, chief investment officer at HREF, said: “HREF’s market-leading capabilities rest not only on finding the right financing solution for each client, but also a genuine understanding of both the assets and the operational businesses that underpin them. That requires senior expertise, and Matt’s wide experience and track record makes him an excellent addition to our team.”

Matt Watson added: “HREF’s reputation and achievements in the bridging finance market speak for themselves, and I have long admired the firm’s proactive approach, strong capitalisation and ability to work across all real estate sectors. I look forward to working with the wider team to grow HREF’s loan book and deliver the creative short-term finance solutions that our clients need.”