Our Team

Mr. D’Alessandro is a partner at Castlelake and a leader of its Real Assets team. He is primarily focused on originating investment opportunities in transitional real estate, infrastructure, renewables and power stability, and sub- and non-performing loans. Mr. D’Alessandro is also a member of the firm’s Investment Review Committee. He joined Castlelake in 2011 and became a partner in 2018. Previously, Mr. D’Alessandro led the firm’s Spanish land banking investment strategy and was also responsible for executing its investment strategy in Portugal, Italy and Greece, the United Kingdom and Ireland. His expertise includes direct asset and non-performing loan opportunities as well as equity public offerings.

Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. D’Alessandro was an investment consultant at Deutsche Bank in its special situations group, focusing on non-performing loan investments across Europe. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Mr. D’Alessandro was an investment associate at CVI within the Loan Portfolio Group. At CVI, he worked on non-performing loan and real estate investments in the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. Mr. D’Alessandro received his M.B.A. from the London Business School and received his B.Sc. in finance from Manhattanville College, cum laude. Mr. D’Alessandro is a native English and Spanish speaker.

Mr. Braschel joined Castlelake in 2017 and is a leader of its European Real Assets team. He is primarily focused on executing the firm’s investment strategy across transitional real estate, infrastructure, and sub- and non-performing loans in Europe. He became a partner of the firm in 2020. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Braschel was a partner at Benson Elliot Capital Management, where he oversaw real estate acquisition and asset management in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to Benson Elliot, Mr. Braschel was an executive director at Goldman Sachs, focused on real estate acquisition transactions across Europe. He started his career with the real estate principal investment area (REPIA) at Goldman Sachs in London where he worked from 2000 to 2009. He received his Diplom-Kaufmann (M.B.A.) from the EBS Universität in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany. Mr. Braschel is fluent in German and French, as well as conversational in Spanish.

Mr. Gearing joined Castlelake in 2017 and is a leader of its North American Real Assets team. He is primarily focused on executing the firm’s investment strategy across transitional real estate, infrastructure, and sub- and non-performing loans in the U.S. He became a partner of the firm in 2020. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Gearing was the president and founder of Gearing Capital Partners, a commercial real estate specialty finance company focused on distressed debt and direct lending across North America. Mr. Gearing has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate finance and investment and has been involved in over $2 billion of completed transactions over the course of his career. Prior to founding Gearing Capital Partners, Mr. Gearing was a vice president at Secured Capital Corporation, where he was responsible for structuring debt and equity investments and raising capital. He has also held roles at JP Morgan Mortgage Capital and Archon Group, a Goldman Sachs subsidiary. Mr. Gearing received an M.B.A. from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University and a B.B.A. in finance and real estate finance from Southern Methodist University. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and is a board member of the Folsom Institute for Real Estate at the SMU Cox School of Business.

Mr. Agrawal joined Castlelake in 2020 and is part of the Real Assets team, focused on distressed investment opportunities in Europe. Mr. Agrawal has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate finance and investment and has been involved in over $7 billion of completed debt and equity transactions over the course of his career. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Agrawal was with Kildare Partners in London, where he focused on distressed and opportunistic real estate acquisitions across Europe. Mr. Agrawal also worked with Deutsche Bank on their European Real Estate Financing and Special Situation team, and prior to that was part of their Financial Institutions Group, Investment Banking team. Mr. Agrawal started his career with Caterpillar in Southeast Asia. He received his M.B.A. from the London Business School and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi.

Mr. Bogo joined Castlelake in 2016 and is part of the Real Assets team, focused on distressed real estate investments. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Bogo was working at The Blackstone Group, where he focused on real estate acquisitions across Europe. Mr. Bogo received an M.S. in finance and private equity from the London School of Economics where he graduated with distinction, and received his undergraduate degree from Bocconi University. He also completed an exchange program at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bogo is fluent in Italian.

Mr. Cohen joined Castlelake in 2017 and is part of the Real Assets team, focused on investments in the North American commercial real estate sector. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Cohen worked as a director for Gearing Capital Partners where he was responsible for the sourcing, structuring and execution of debt and equity real estate investments across the U.S. Prior to joining Gearing Capital Partners, he worked as a senior vice president for FirstCity Financial Corporation, a multi-national specialty finance company focused on the acquisition of sub-performing and non-performing loans. Prior to joining FirstCity, he was an associate at Morgan Stanley and Crescent Real Estate Equities. He received his B.S.B.A. with a concentration in finance from the University of Richmond.

Ms. Fusi joined Castlelake in 2014 and is part of the Real Assets team, focused on European real estate investments. Prior to joining Castlelake, Ms. Fusi was a manager on Restructuring &Corporate Finance with KPMG in Madrid, where she worked on real estate corporate transactions and investments, as well as on re-financing and insolvency processes within the real estate sector. Prior to KPMG, Ms. Fusi worked as appraiser and consultant on land and real estate developments for diverse clients, including Altamira and Banco Santander, performing appraisals, due diligence, viability studies and asset management projects. Ms. Fusi received her B.Sc. and M.Arch. from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in architecture and urban planning. She received a master’s degree in real estate management and urban planning from the Icade Business School at Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, Madrid and another in corporate finance and investment banking at Instituto de Estudios Bursatiles. Ms. Fusi is fluent in Spanish, as well as conversational in French and Italian.

Mr. Costa joined Castlelake in 2019 and is part of the Real Assets team, focused on global power and energy infrastructure investments. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Costa led M&A for Vientos Energy, a growth markets-focused power generation business. Prior to Vientos, Mr. Costa held energy-finance positions with Orazul Energy, Casa dos Ventos, Itau BBA and Wood Mackenzie. He received his B.A. in business management from the University of Campinas – UNICAMP, Brazil, summa cum laude, and attended energy-finance, pre-MBA and corporate law programs at the University of Texas at Austin, Yale University and FGV-law, respectively. Mr. Costa is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, as well as conversational in French.

Mr. Zimmermann joined Castlelake in 2021 as part of the Real Assets team, focused on northern European real asset investment opportunities. Prior to joining Castlelake, Mr. Zimmermann was with Davidson Kempner’s London Distressed Group, where he focused on pan-European real estate-related deals across the capital structure. Prior to Davidson Kempner, Mr. Zimmermann was part of Apollo’s European Principal Finance team in London, focused on NPL and equity investments across various industries. Mr. Zimmermann started his career in corporate investment banking at Rothschild and Morgan Stanley in Frankfurt. Mr. Zimmermann received his degreefrom the University of Mannheim in business administration and economics and spent one year at Warwick Business School as part of a scholarship program. Mr. Zimmermann is fluent in German, as well as conversational in Spanish and Russian.