Four previous Cromwell Property and Valad Europe managers have joined forces to form a pan-European real estate investment firm targetting industrial, office and infrastructure sectors.
Former Cromwell European managing director Mark McLaughlin, head of investment for Europe and head of UK Rob Cotterell, previous head of real estate Europe and Benelux Wouter Zwetsloot, and ex-Valad Europe fund manager and later property director at Bizspace Martin Hanratty have launched the partner-owned MC Property.
McLaughlin and Zwetsloot will be based in the Netherlands and Cotterell and Hanratty will be based in the UK. They will work with Thomas Heidelberger, their operating partner in Germany and former development executive at Valad Europe which was acquired by Cromwell in 2015 from Blackstone.
MC Property’s initial focus will be on value-add and opportunistic investments in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany through developing or repositioning logistics facilities, office buildings and infrastructure mobility hubs, which combine the physical infrastructure, energy, storage and electric charging.
McLaughlin, managing partner of MC Property, said: “The four of us have a huge amount of experience gained through multiple property cycles working with different types of capital. We now firmly believe that this is an opportune time to return to the market and build a team with no legacy issues to generate superior returns.
“There has been significant disruption over the last years which has left the market in a challenging position for both investors and tenants. Structural changes, such as working from home, ESG and net zero, that you would expect to take decades to come through, have happened in years.
“All this has created a dislocated market which presents opportunities for the smart investor and operator.”
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