Savills Studley has strengthened its commercial real estate structured financing capability with the addition of Cara Leonard, an experienced hotel investment banking recruit who will join the group’s Hotel Investment Banking platform as Senior Managing Director in Los Angeles.  Cara will be part of Savills Global Hotel Group led by George Nicholas.

Prior to joining Savills Studley, Cara was the strategic head of the structured finance platform at Lowe Enterprise Investors (LEI) where she was responsible for sourcing, underwriting, structuring and negotiating debt and preferred equity investments in hotels.  In that role, she also led portfolio and asset management and played a key role in capital formation and investment strategy.

While at LEI, Cara also served as the portfolio manager for the firm’s hospitality fund and led investor marketing for the firms comingled funds and separate accounts.

Previously she worked at Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds and practised law as an associate on the Joint Venture/Acquisitions team at Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP focusing on real estate joint venture transactions, acquisitions, dispositions and structured finance.  Cara graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Science and a Juris Doctorate.

George Nicholas, Global Head of Hotels at Savills, comments: “We are excited to have Cara join the team, where she can leverage off the local and global relationships of Savills Global Hotel Group and exploit our unmatched access to Asian debt and equity capital through our network of 133 offices in Asia Pacific and 24,000 directly employed staff.

“Cara’s full-time focus on lodging finance, coupled with her deep understanding of structuring and owner-related issues provide borrowers with finger-on-the-pulse pricing and an ally in their deal.”