Specialist property lender, ASK Partners (ASK), announces that Joe Freedman has been promoted to Head of Origination following the departure of Elliot Blatt who leaves to start his own venture, and as the firm positions itself for growth following a strong start to 2025 and to meet demand from private client investors.
Blatt made a significant contribution to the firm’s growth during his 8-year tenure and Freedman, who joined ASK in June 2021, has also been instrumental in originating, analysing, and executing transactions across a broad range of asset classes and capital structures. Since the end of 2024 the company has closed c.£200m of transactions. Freedman led over £100m of these transactions which included a development exit loan for a multi-let office building, an office to residential conversion and a pre-development bridge preparing a site for a residential-led development.
Freedman previously spent four years at property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton, where he held roles across property finance, corporate finance, investment, and asset management. He holds a BSc in Industrial Economics from the University of Nottingham and an MSc in Real Estate from the University College of Estate Management.
Daniel Austin, CEO and co-founder at ASK Partners, said: “Joe has been a key part of our origination team in recent years; his promotion is part of our strategy to position ourselves for growth. There is increasing appetite for real estate from private capital and we are starting to see an uptick in real estate transaction volumes in the UK with interesting new opportunities in data centres and self-storage bolstered by strong fundamentals in the living sector and an office market recovery. Overall the market still remains tricky to read with the complex nature of global politics, but Joe has proven experience and success in challenging market conditions and complex transactions; his broad expertise will be invaluable as we continue to grow and strengthen ASK as a leading real estate lender in the UK. We would also like to thank Elliot for his contribution over the years and wish him every success as he embarks on his new venture”
Commenting on his promotion, Joe Freedman said: “I’m thrilled to be leading the origination team at such a pivotal time, as we continue to identify high-quality real estate lending opportunities across diverse UK sectors which provide attractive investment opportunities for our private clients. We have built a reputation as a trusted partner and together with my team I will be continuing to work closely with clients to create bespoke and flexible financing strategies in line with achieving their business goals.”
