A new breed of alternative lender is emerging to fill an estimated EUR 35 bn European funding gap which is expected to widen in the wake of a mountain of debt maturities in the next 24 months. 'We see an increasing number of alternative lenders taking the stage, with announcements of new debt funds being launched every other day,' said Natale Giostra, head of CBRE's UK and EMEA Debt Advisory team.