From day one, the PPF team made it clear they were invested in my growth at Puma.

Commencing my internship with this support in mind gave me confidence and assurance at every stage in learning. I knew if I ran into a learning roadblock, I had experienced mentors around to help me push through.

Attending the Summer Town Hall on my second day might have felt daunting, but I was put to ease by a bold company culture on display. The day was a memorable experience, with insight into each team within Puma and the internal cross-pollination which takes place, highlighting how essential each component of the firm is.

I firmly remember the first deal I was presented, feeling like a boatload of indigestible information and terminology. By learning to filter through key documents such as credit memoranda and a valuation report, I was eventually able to take all the pieces of information and build a cohesive picture of the case study projects.

As I frequently bombarded Chris and Louise with questions, they were key to furthering my understanding, transforming foreign concepts and terms into second nature. With each deal, the process got recognisably faster, understanding what the loan request was became easier. With help from Gus and sessions with Louise, working my way to navigating the PPF IRR model alongside the cashflows demonstrated how Excel is used in an applied setting. Learning to evaluate a new deal was the next step. Altering my approach of seeing a deal as definitively “good or bad” to understanding it is a spectrum of risk, a definitive answer is rare to have on a first glance of a deal.

During my time, it was repeatedly made clear to me how important collaboration is to the chemistry of the team. A willingness to bounce ideas off each other, everyone offered insightful perspectives. Chris and Louise always encouraged me to build a standpoint on projects, reviewing each with them, genuinely immersing me in the process.

It was gratifying to see a new deal, which I had the chance to examine, go from an email chain to credit committee, heritage and now the funding of the project is almost underway. Collaboration, respect and ambition are an aspect of the PPF team I observed in the working environment every day, I aspire to emulate these traits in the same manner throughout my career, as they build a healthy working environment.

Amid my internship, a full circle moment was my site visit to the Forest Mill student accommodation in Nottingham- PPF’s largest deal to date. During my application process, it was a staple in my background research on PPF. Being a student in Nottingham it was a project I felt comfortable talking about in my interview. Therefore, returning with Chris to the place where my journey into Puma began, to follow up on the project was meaningful.

A contrasting learning moment was a site visit to a London based project, which Eliot and I went to view. This offered a completely different dynamic as this project had a difficult hurdle to overcome. Although being an unfavourable situation, there were many lessons to take away from the project, above all, seeing how the team must adapt to redirect the project in the right direction was central takeaway from this site.

From an administrative outlook, Lydia helped me organise one-to-ones across the office-booking me in for meetings and teaching me how to navigate calendars. This was a fundamental part of being in the office and gaining the most out of my time. Gratitude also to Cara and Sasha, in the People team, who ensured company onboarding and time throughout was made seamless.

Having arrived with only surface level knowledge in property finance, my time at Puma has altered the way I consume the news, constantly thinking “what is the ripple effect?”. Developing my analytical mind during my internship and allowing me to delve into new concepts.

I am grateful to the PPF team for the opportunity to develop both my technical, interpersonal skills during my time and extend my thanks to the rest of Puma, providing an invaluable learning opportunity.