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Rugby World Cup winner David Giffin has been named deputy CEO at a property debt fund.
Former Wallabies vice-captain David Giffin has joined non-bank mortgage funder Centuria Bass as deputy CEO and co-head of lending, responsible for private lending origination and loan management across Australia and New Zealand.
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In the Sydney-based role, Giffin is supporting the real estate debt and investment manager (a joint venture, following an 80 per cent investment by ASX-listed Centuria Capital into Bass Capital) alongside Centuria Bass founders and joint CEOs Nick Goh and Giles Borten.
In the role, he will directly lead a team of 10 as they build their presence offering.
Centuria is an investor and alternative asset manager, specialising in providing real estate funding services to assist midsized companies, property developers, and investors.
The business, which holds around $2 billion in funds under management, typically focuses on financing ranging from $5–$100 million in value.
Examples of Centuria’s financing include construction finance, bridge loans to support acquisitions and refinancings, and funding for real estate assets.
Centuria Bass works directly with mortgage brokers.
The company, in its current form, was created as the result of a joint venture between Bass Capital Partners and Centuria Capital Group in April 2021. It was originally founded in 2016.
Prior to joining Centuria, Giffin co-founded car loans provider Taurus Motor Finance where he was co-CEO for five years from December 2018, before the business was bought by non-bank lender Metrics Credit Partners.
He has over 20 years’ experience in corporate and asset finance, operations, and management across major lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), investment bank Grant Samuel, and Taurus Motor Finance.
Giffin has secured more than $5 billion of debt and equity in previous financial services roles in addition to managing loan books exceeding $1 billion, Centuria said.
The ex-professional athlete has experience in capital raising, structuring, and credit risk in addition to business development and operations.
Prior to his finance and management career, the incoming executive played professional rugby for the ACT Brumbies and Wallabies across nine years that included a period as vice-captain.
He was also a member of the Rugby World Cup-winning Wallaby team in 1999 and the 2001 Super Rugby championship-winning Brumbies squad.
“It is a pleasure to welcome David to the Centuria Bass fold and to have such a credible, seasoned professional join our senior ranks at a time of significant growth,” Centuria joint CEOs Goh and Borten said.
“What sets us apart is targeting the underserviced real estate loan middle-market to enable developers to get shovels in the ground for new development projects and land subdivisions as well as see projects come to fruition through bridging finance and residual stock loans. David’s experience across capital raising and loan management is a perfect match to assist Centuria Bass continue its growth trajectory.”
UBS doubles financial commitment to Centuria
Centuria Bass has separately announced that it has expanded its debt warehouse facility with an additional $100 million senior secured commitment from the Australian arm of investment bank UBS.
UBS’ additional $100 million financing doubles its financial commitment to Centuria Bass, after initially committing $100 million in July 2024.
The upsized commitment increases Centuria’s debt warehouse facility to around $285 million, including UBS’s initial $100 million and the balance from private wholesale investors.
Centuria Bass’ assets under management have grown to $2.3 billion as at December 2024, a 45 per cent annual increase.
Centuria Bass joint-CEO Giles Borten said: “It is a pleasure to expand our relationship with UBS as it doubles its capital commitments with our business within the past six months. UBS’ commitment enables us to significantly scale our ability to service the domestic middle-market real estate finance sector with first mortgage bridging finance and residual stock loans. We are proud to have this additional commitment from one of the world’s largest financial institutions.”
Jason Huljich, Centuria co-CEO, commented: “Centuria Bass continues to grow its market share, providing real estate developers, investors, entrepreneurs and companies with various real estate finance products. This latest commitment from UBS further marks the group’s ability to attract and service capital from some of the world’s largest institutions. Additionally, the diversification of our real estate funds management platform continues to provide a range of fund and finance opportunities to our deep investor network.”
[Related: New CEO announced at Beyond Bank]
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