West One expands short-term division with four senior hires

Specialist lender West One Loans has made four new appointments within its short-term division, strengthening both its bridging and development finance teams.

In development finance, Shaheel Tulsidas (pictured) has been appointed as development finance lending director, while Sam Tibbins joins as senior portfolio manager. Within bridging finance, Christian Gugolz takes on the role of regional account manager, and Abul Niloy becomes telephone business development manager.

These appointments are part of West One’s strategy to enhance its presence in the short-term lending market and reinforce its capabilities in key regional areas.

Shaheel brings more than a decade of experience in financial services. He spent nearly seven years at Invest & Fund, most recently as director of development finance. There, he led funding initiatives through existing lender networks, expanded residential property lending in the alternative finance sector, and developed relationships with ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and institutional investors.

Sam Tibbins joins the development finance team with close to ten years of experience in property finance. He was previously associate director of origination at Shojin Property Partners, a position he held for four years before moving to West One.

In the bridging team, Christian Gugolz becomes regional account manager for Region 1, which includes London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. He brings strong business development experience, having previously served as head of sales at Albatross Lending Group. Prior to that, he spent almost eight years at MT Finance, progressing to senior business development manager.

Abul Niloy joins as telephone business development manager after more than two years at Charleston Financial Services, where he worked across a wide range of borrower needs.

The company expects the appointments to support growth across the short-term division and enhance its ability to originate deals while delivering improved service to clients.

“Q3 has started exceptionally strongly and the appointments of both Christian and Abul to our team are a statement of intent as we cement our place as the go-to lender in bridging finance,” said Jez Quinn, head of sales – short-term finance. “Both bring extensive experience, and I can’t wait for them to get started.”

“Shaheel has evidenced his ability to build strategic funding relationships and scale operations at the highest level, while Sam’s investment knowledge gives us a strong competitive advantage,” added Guy Murray, co-head of short-term finance at West One. “Their appointments strengthen West One's ability to serve brokers who need fast execution on time-critical development projects.”