NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm, is pleased to announce that Michael Mestel has joined the firm’s real estate investment affiliate, H.I.G. Realty Partners, as Managing Director and Head of U.S. Real Estate Debt Originations. H.I.G. Realty’s credit team originates and invests in real estate debt products (senior loans, B-notes, mezzanine loans and preferred equity) across all property types throughout the United States. Michael brings over 15 years of experience originating, structuring and investing in real estate debt. He will be located in H.I.G.’s New York office.

Michael joins H.I.G. from Square Mile Capital Management, where he was the Head of West Coast Originations. Prior to Square Mile Capital Management, Michael served as a Director in the Real Estate Finance Group at Citigroup where he was responsible for originating, negotiating and structuring fixed and floating rate loans in the Northeast and West Coast.

Jeff Wiseman, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Real Estate Debt, commented, “Michael brings to H.I.G. a wealth of experience originating and structuring commercial real estate debt. Michael’s existing borrower relationships, coupled with his experience in building out debt origination platforms, will significantly expand H.I.G.’s commercial real estate debt business in the United States.” Ira Weidhorn and David Hirschberg, Co-Heads of H.I.G. Realty Partners added, “We are excited to welcome Michael to H.I.G. Realty Partners and leverage his considerable expertise and relationships within the commercial real estate business.”

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $27 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:

H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.

H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.

H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.