Mert joined Alpha Property Lending as a Director in December 2021 to originate, execute and run development, investment and bridging loans for borrowers across established locations in the UK across various real estate asset sectors. In June 2023, he was made Head of Commercial Lending further to progressing deals in the residential, PBSA, care, retirement living, office, industrial and self-storage sectors with clients such as EQT Exeter, Fiera Real Estate, Q-Investment Partners and Torsion Group.Prior to that, Mert held roles at Puma Property Finance and Octopus Real Estate as an Investment Manager from 2018 to provide development, investment term and bridging finance to investors and developers against commercial property and development sites in the UK. Prior to this, from March 2017, Mert had been working in origination for the Private Equity Real Estate Team in the RBS Real Estate Finance Corporate department. He has assessed numerous debt proposals across traditional and alternative asset classes which have cumulatively totalled in excess of £2 billion in this role. Further to modelling and assessment of risk appetite, Mert has engaged committees and provided lending terms to customers as well as initiated leads for new business from prospects.In previous roles, as a Corporate Director, Mert has had over seven years experience in corporate and property restructuring/recovery work at RBS, across a broad range of asset classes and business sectors and has been involved in numerous corporate advisory projects. Mert specialised in restructuring and realisations of debt backed by asset security for the SME market but has had a wealth experience managing a large portfolio of corporate clients.Mert has had extensive experience in working with and advising Fixed Charge Receivers who have acted on behalf of numerous lenders. He has managed several appointments, with involvement from the strategy development and management stages, all the way through to the sale of these properties. The work that Mert has been involved with in the Investment Consulting team at BNP Paribas Real Estate has complemented this experience, as he has advised lending institutions about whether specific properties would be suitable for security against a loan facility.Within work, Mert has consistently been awarded business development prizes and been placed on leadership schemes. Outside of work Mert has sporting interests and is a keen rugby player who has obtained ten international rugby caps for Turkey and captained the national side.