OUR TEAM
We have a diverse, highly experienced and specialist team with backgrounds in banking, surveying, private equity, accounting and law to ensure a market-leading bespoke service for our clients.
Adam Buchler
Managing Director
In 2003 Adam co-founded Buchler Barnett Finance, a boutique real estate structured finance business which later became BBS Capital. He has driven the growth of the business since inception as it has developed into one of the UK’s leading independent debt advisory practices.
He has personally led countless complex, highly structured and high-profile advisory mandates across the capital stack always ensuring clients receive a best-in-class institutional quality service.
Adam is a Chartered Accountant by background having qualified at PwC where he spent 5 years in the Corporate Finance department and he holds a First Class honours degree in Economics from the University of Manchester.
He has co-chaired Variety’s Gastronomic Evening for several years raising important funds for disabled and disadvantaged children across the UK.
He is married with 2 children and is a lifelong Spurs supporter.
Joanne Barnett
Co-Founder
Joanne has been a leader in real estate debt advisory for the last 30 years.
In 2003 Joanne co-founded Buchler Barnett Finance, a boutique real estate structured finance business which later became BBS Capital.
Her longstanding client base comprises private and public property companies, overseas investors, wealth-management groups and off-shore family offices. She has experience across all property sectors, including wide ranging residential and commercial investment and development in the UK and Western Europe.
Joanne has successfully led the incorporation of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ initiatives at BBS Capital. She is a trustee of the charity Give a Book, which facilitates the gift of books to those most in need and is the current Chairperson of a monthly asylum seeker drop-in centre for over 200 families. She is also a lifelong Spurs fan.
Nick Spencer
Co-Founder
In 2006 Nick joined forces with Adam & Joanne, ultimately leading to the launch of BBS Capital. Since 2012 Nick has split his time between business development for BBS Capital and spearheading the growth of BBS’s sister asset-management & investment business.
Nick is a Chartered Surveyor by training, qualifying at Knight Frank where he spent five years specialising in development consultancy and corporate finance. Following this he joined Credo Property Group as a Director, co-managing their real estate investment funds in the UK & Europe.
Nick holds a BSc in Land Management from the University of Reading and a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Development from MIT.
Nick is also a founder-trustee of the KMMT which provides “Homes from Home” to support leukaemia patients.
Chris Tinker
Non-Executive Director
Chris joined the BBS Capital Board having recently retired from Crest Nicholson PLC after 32 years with the company. He joined the Crest Group Board in 2007 and was acting CEO during 2019.
At Crest, Chris was the long-term Chair of the successful regeneration and strategic land divisions which had a combined development portfolio of circa £7bn across 40 sites. Chris also held Directorships at the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership, the Housing Forum and for 5 years chaired the “Majors sub-committee” of the House Building Federation.
Chris was instrumental in the creation of Crest’s extensive Build to Rent portfolio. This included the delivery of circa 300 BTR dwellings at Park Central, Birmingham, sold to BBS Capital.
Chris now holds several NED roles including Directorships with Cratus Communications and Bathurst Developments Ltd. He is also a member of the PCC of Greyfriars Church, Reading and a Trustee of Yeldall Christian Centres and the Kiriath Trust, two charities involved in the rehabilitation of drug and alcohol addicts.
He is married with two daughters and is a keen skier, badminton player and gardener.
David Church
Non-Executive Director
David sits on the BBS Capital Board. He is a Chartered Surveyor by qualification and has spent the majority of his career in real estate investment banking. He has 35 years of experience across many aspects of real estate.
David ran the EMEA real estate gaming and lodging investment banking business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2006 until 2015, taking the team to a market-leading position in EMEA equity capital markets and M&A.
Having closed many landmark deals, he rose to the position of Vice Chairman prior to resigning to establish Leon Partners as an independent real estate advisory business.
After 2 years of being independent David sold Leon to HFF where he co-headed the team to a market leading position across the real estate financing spectrum . With 7bn of deals closed out of the London office the business was sold to JLL. David left to pursue a plural career as both an investor and adviser.
David is now on the Board of Tetrach Homes in Dublin a company he helped to found. He is an executive Board member at Invel the leading real estate private equity business and helps out on a number of charitable initiatives.
Stephen Benson
Strategic Advisor
Stephen is able to draw on wide-ranging experience in the real estate finance world. Originally qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor, Stephen spent 8 years in capital markets at Knight Frank and CBRE before co-founding Rivercrown (2004), a pan-European Investment Management business which he led until his departure in 2022.
Whilst there, he was instrumental in building its European platform across the UK, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands and Germany, focusing on the distressed real estate equity and credit market. Over 18-years, Stephen led Rivercrown to form partnerships with leading global institutions including Goldman Sachs, BAML, Deutsche Bank, Oaktree, Apollo, GIC and Davidson Kempner amongst others. A large part of Stephen’s time was spent in the non-performing loan space, acquiring over €5bn of loans in various partnerships.
In addition to structured finance, Stephen has also acquired direct assets in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands and Germany, many of which were bought in partnership with the aforementioned institutions. Finally, Stephen has also spent the past 2 years restructuring distressed projects and arranging specialist stretched lending.
Stephen is married with two children and is a fitness enthusiast and a lifelong Arsenal supporter, following them home and away.
Georgia Contogoulas
Director
Since joining BBS Capital, Georgia has led a variety of transactions in the UK and Europe, assisting clients to secure debt for their real estate investments. Geórgia has led deals across most commercial real estate sectors, with particular expertise on finance for operational real estate. Geórgia leads all hospitality deals at BBS Capital.
Geórgia is a Civil and Industrial Engineer by background. She first worked in the UK at EY’s Real Estate Finance team, which she joined after completing her MBA at London Business School. After EY Geórgia worked at the Structured Finance team at Rothschild Bank and prior to joining BBS she was at CBRE Capital Advisors.
Mark Geraghty
Director
Mark has 10 years of real estate financing experience across all sectors in the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe.
Having spent eight years leading Oxford Properties’ European real estate financing requirements, Mark completed the execution of over £5bn in structured financing activity across a wide range of asset classes, deal complexities and jurisdictions.
Mark is a Chartered Accountant (ACA / CA) having spent four years at KPMG Dublin’s audit & assurance team covering several real estate investment clients, and previously worked at Commercial Estates Group as a real estate financial accountant.
Edward Hamilton
Director
Amandeep Uppal
In-House Counsel
Having previously worked in private practice, Amandeep now applies her extensive legal experience to obtain the best outcome for our clients. She has a deep knowledge of transactions and is very hands-on in managing and driving transactions from term sheet stage to completion.
Amandeep trained at Mayer Brown International and qualified into the banking and finance group in 2008 and has been specializing within the real estate finance field since 2013. Amandeep has been on several client secondments and had many internships including at Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC Bank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. Amandeep was also a consultant in the real estate finance team at Fieldfisher from 2018-2020.
Amandeep has two children and is an active member of the PTA at her children’s school. Amandeep is a keen cook including baking, enjoys playing netball and keeping fit.
Candice Sammeroff
Business Development
With her unparalleled network and real estate experience, Candice has helped to grow the business and originate a number of high-profile real estate financings. She always ensures utmost responsiveness to clients and adds extra value wherever possible to maximise opportunity and ensure successful outturn.
Candice is a lawyer by background, having practiced as a commercial lawyer for ten years. She has also run the business development for the real estate arm of a large corporate, before partnering, as a shareholder, in building a boutique real estate practice and selling the business in 2017.
She is a Trustee of Variety, the Children’s Charity and she chairs the “Props”, the real estate arm of Variety. Since 2010, she has helped to organise the annual ‘Props’ Lunch‘, one of the real estate sector’s premier fundraising events.
She was a professional dancer for many years and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing as an extra professional dancer on the opening show of the 2016 series!
Joseph Clery
Associate Director
Joe focuses on structuring complex debt and equity transactions, as well as joint ventures, across the UK and Europe.
Previously, Joe worked at Rivercrown where he split his time between the capital advisory team and the principal investment team focusing on special situations. Joe spent 5 years at HoH Capital Partners in the investment team where he was responsible for origination, underwriting and execution across both debt and equity strategies with a primary focus on the UK and US. Joe also worked at Queensgate Investments where he was a member of the acquisitions team.
Joe holds an MSc’s in Real Estate Finance from Henley Business School and a BSc in Accounting and Finance the University of Bristol.
Outside of work Joe is a sports enthusiast specifically football, Arsenal F.C. and fitness competitions.
Kazeem Afolabi
Associate Director
While at BBS Capital Kazeem has delivered transactions across a wide variety of sectors.
Previously, Kazeem was part of the financing team at Eastdil Secured a boutique real estate investment bank. His main responsibilities included underwriting client information and advising on equity and debt deals across various asset classes including but not limited to; Residential, Office, Hotel, Logistics, Retail and Student Housing across Europe. Prior to joining Eastdil, Kazeem spent 6 years at Goldman Sachs in the Real Estate Development team delivering Goldman Sachs’s 1.2 million sq.ft EMEA headquarters and executing one of the largest Sale and Leaseback transactions in Europe.
Kazeem is an RICS accredited Chartered Surveyor and holds MSc’s in Real Estate Economics and Finance and Finance and Management from the London School of Economics and University College London, respectively.
He is a keen sports enthusiast specifically Basketball and Football and spends most of his free time combining his passions for, sports, finance and real estate.
Joana Cardoso
Senior Associate
Covering transactions across all sectors, Joana has completed several high value acquisitions, developments and refinancings, driving the funding process from start to finish.
With prior experience in real estate debt advisory, Joana was formerly part of the social housing team at Chatham Financial. Prior to Chatham, Joana was responsible for managing buy-side client relationships at S&P.
Joana is a CFA charterholder. She holds a degree in Management & International Business Economics from The University of Manchester and a Certificate in Real Estate Financial Analysis from NYU.
Joana is a keen volleyball player and is a mentor to young adults transitioning from school to university.
Frederick Adu-Boahen
Analyst
Frederick supports the deal team with research, negotiating term-sheets with lenders, preparing financial models, presentations and information memorandums, and performing any other duties assigned to him as the team executes real estate finance transactions across a range of asset classes.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Land Economy from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology followed by a master’s degree Real Estate Finance from Henley Business School, University of Reading.
Frederick participated in Eastdil’s 2022 Virtual Real Estate Finance Training Program.
He has altogether 2 years of experience driving project management, procurement, property development, research, due diligence, and valuation process via coveted summer internships.
Alex Bouchaud
Analyst
Alex supports the advisory team on all aspects of financing transactions, from the production of Information Memoranda to financial modelling.
Prior to joining BBS, Alex spent time in a similar role at Rivercrown Group, working within the Capital Advisory team.
Alex has a background in management consulting, having spent a year and a half assisting financial services firms to streamline operations and make processes more efficient.
He holds an undergraduate degree in Geography from King’s College London and a Masters in Management from UCL.
Outside of work Alex enjoys football, skiing and trivia.
Kate Thackery
Business Project Manager
Kate Thackery manages business operations for BBS Capital. She has a varied role, ranging from facilities management to business processes development. Kate supports the team so that they can focus on delivering an exceptional debt advisory service.
Her background is in legal administration, having worked in the billing department of Duncan Lewis and later as an Assistant Investigator at the Serious Fraud Office.
Kate graduated from the University of St Andrews with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Modern History.
Kate is an avid board-gamer and is learning to ice-skate.
Danny Elkanati
Consultant, Israel
Danny is a corporate banker with 30 years of experience in the UK and Israel.
In 2002, Danny was appointed as the UK representative of Israel’s Ministry of Finance and was responsible for raising sovereign debt for the Israeli government.
From 2006-2011 Danny was the General Manager of Israel Discount Bank in London. The bank specialised in providing property finance solutions for both UK and overseas investors and developers. Danny’s team closed projects throughout the UK and western Europe across all property sectors.
Danny studied at Haifa University and achieved his first degree in Middle Eastern Studies & Economics and his second degree in Business Management.
Oleksandra Unterberher
Receptionist & Diary Manager
Oleksandra Unterberher has a varied role in BBS Capital, her daily tasks include welcoming guests, maintaining the office, administrative assistance, and diary management.
She is has a bachelor degree in Hotel and Restaurant Business from Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics.
Her background is in hospitality, having worked in restaurants and cafes. Later, finding herself in the UK, Oleksandra worked at a high-end gastropub.
Oleksandra is an enthusiastic fan of stand up comedy, a kalimba player and a scooter rider.
