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ellington Management has bolstered its private real estate credit capabilities by hiring Ravi Anand as head of Private Real Estate Credit. Alongside him, three other PIMCO team members have joined to build a new debt platform at the $1.2 trillion firm. This move is part of Wellington's efforts to expand its global and scalable private investing platform.

    Anand brings over six years of experience from PIMCO, where he was global co-head of CRE Debt and Head of U.S. Private CRE Debt. He oversaw most funds focused on first mortgage loans secured by U.S. commercial real estate assets. The team's combined decades of experience will enhance Wellington's offerings.

    "We're confident that this team brings strong origination, underwriting, and structuring expertise," said Emily Bannister, head of Private Credit at Wellington Management. "This is a significant expansion of our efforts to provide differentiated solutions for clients."

    Wellington currently manages $180 billion in structured credit, real assets, and REIT exposures. The firm's private credit platform includes investment-grade private credit, growth lending, and CLO equity.

    Ravi Anand noted that there is growing demand for debt solutions within the global CRE markets due to structural shifts in the banking industry constricting capital supply. He sees a unique opportunity for private managers to fill the lending gap for institutional real estate owners and operators.

    Joining Anand are Zeyu "Chen" Chen, Michael Chen, and Lucas Dias-Lam, who will be based in Wellington's New York office as part of the Private Investing platform that manages over $8.9 billion in dedicated assets under management.

    The team's departure from PIMCO follows a restructuring effort to strengthen its CRE team. Roman Kogan was promoted to co-head of private CRE debt, and Will Dionisio took on additional responsibilities within the U.S. CRE private lending team.