REAL ESTATE – Corestate Capital, a new Zurich-based real estate asset manager, has hired Christian Schulte Eistrup as managing director with responsibility for capital raising and investor relations. The appointment is with immediate effect.

Schulte Eistrup joins from Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment arm in London. He worked there for nine years, and his last position was head of European investment strategy and research.

Corestate was co-founded in mid-2006 by Ralph Winter, the firm’s chief executive, and Thomas Landschreiber, its chief operating officer. Corestate’s fourth board member is chief financial officer Peter Happe.

Its only fund invests in German residential property. The fund which was launched last summer aims to taken in €2.5bn in assets eventually. Corestate said its investors were recently paid a cash dividend totalling tens of millions of euros.

Corestate also plans to launch a commercial property fund soon.

Prior to founding Corestate, Winter and Landschreiber were real estate managers at the German arm of US private equity firm Cerebus, with Winter in charge of that business.

Cerebus entered the German residential property market several years ago, at a time when asset prices were at historic lows amid a general economic slowdown. Since then, the private equity firm has accumulated a portfolio of more than 120,000 flats.

Analysts expect that like US peer Fortress before it, Cerebus will at some point float its property holdings on the German stock exchange in the hopes of realising a decent profit.