Blend Network

Blend opens Belfast office with new lending manager



Blend Network has today (3rd May) opened its new Northern Ireland office in Belfast, headed up by Philip Anderson (pictured above) as lending manager.


Philip — who has 10 years of experience in banking and finance — joins the business from Allied Irish Bank, where he was a relationship manager in the corporate banking property team, providing specialist development finance to residential and commercial schemes across Northern Ireland.

Before that, he worked within the advisory practice at PwC.

“I am very pleased to be joining Blend at such an exciting time,” said Philip.

“Blend is a dynamic and forward-thinking organisation with a strong appetite to offer development finance to experienced developers. 

“While there are a number of factors that continue to hinder the supply of new housing stock coming to the market, I am hopeful that, by increasing the availability of development finance, it will go some way to increase the supply of new homes in Northern Ireland.” 

While Blend has funded SME property developers in Northern Ireland since 2018, it has decided to step up its commitment to the region following the strength of the market over the past year. 

The specialist lender will offer up to 70% LTGDV on development finance and bridging loans in the area.

Philip intends to help Blend deploy £120m of funding recently committed by several family offices and investors and expand its regional footprint after the recent appointment of Cambridgeshire-based lending director Chris Mason.

“We are delighted to welcome Philip to our growing lending team,” added Yann Murciano, CEO at Blend. 

“Philip has a breadth and depth of experience across the real estate and finance sectors, as well as extensive regional expertise, which will significantly help us scale our loan book. 

“Philip’s appointment will allow us to expand our presence on the ground in Northern Ireland and help deploy our capital to the Northern Ireland property development market.”



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