CBRE IM, Cushman & Wakefield, Zonda, JLL, Greystar Real Estate Partners, Altus Power, Hoffman & Associates, Middleburg Communities, Investec, Primonial REIM, BNP Paribas REIM, Nuveen Real Estate, Platzer Fastigheter, Valesco Group, Ballymore Asset Management, Pennybacker Capital Management, Arroyo Investors
CBRE Investment Management – Jan-Willem Bastijn has been appointed head of EMEA transactions for direct real estate strategies. Bastijn will be responsible for accelerating EMEA platform growth, as well as leading the transaction teams across 10 EMEA offices. Bastijn joins from Cushman & Wakefield where he has worked for over 20 years, most recently as chair of capital markets EMEA with a focus on servicing pan-regional investors and leading cross-border investment transactions at scale. He has been instrumental in transforming the firm’s capital markets group to a full-service provider covering all sectors and geographies. As head of EMEA transactions at CBRE IM, Bastijn will be pivotal in leveraging both local and multi-sector expertise, building and supporting the transaction teams in delivering at pace and at scale. Joining on 1 March, Bastijn will report to Rik Eertink, president EMEA real estate division at CBRE IM. He will join the EMEA management team and be based in Amsterdam.
Primonial REIM – Juergen Fenk has disclosed on his LinkedIn profile that he has decided to resign as CEO of the real estate investment firm. Fenk joined the Primonial in May 2021 after having been a member of the executive committee of the SIGNA Group (Berlin/Vienna). In addition, he founded the group’s venture capital unit focusing on PropTech and CleanTech and successfully implemented the ESG strategy. He previously held various management positions in banks and investment companies in Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Austria and the US.
Pennybacker Capital Management – The real assets investment manager has appointed Sam Warfield to lead its infrastructure investment platform. Warfield previously served as managing director, head of US investments at Arroyo Investors. Prior to Arroyo Investors, Warfield was a senior corporate associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, where his practice focused on M&A transactions in the infrastructure sector.
Greystar Real Estate Partners – Philip Hirst has joined the firm as director for sustainability. Hirst is responsible for driving forward Greystar’s sustainability agenda, with a focus on asset and portfolio activities across Europe. He will work closely with Cope Willis, managing director for sustainability, working more broadly on Greystar’s sustainability efforts, and report to Bella Peacock, managing director of investment management and operations. Hirst has over 20 years’ experience creating, implementing, and communicating sustainability strategies across the UK, Europe, and Middle East and over a decade of experience in the real estate sector, leading a team within JLL’s sustainability consultancy.
Investec – Fred Petit and Hans Beekmans will co-head North America power and infrastructure coverage, while Valeria Lombardi will spearhead the group’s distribution efforts as head of loan syndications. Petit, who joined Investec in 2019 from the energy and infrastructure group at Credit Agricole will remain in charge of power and renewables, while Beekmans, who joined in 2019 from ING’s energy group, will continue to head up Investec’s midstream oil and gas platform. Both will lead coverage of Investec’s energy transition activities. Lombardi, who joined in 2021 from Intesa Sanpaolo’s structured finance group, will be responsible for loan syndication across all sectors.
BNP Paribas REIM UK – Swati Srivastava has been appointed head of institutional sales and investor relations (UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Nordics, and international clients) in its London office from 1 Nov 2022. Srivastava previously worked at Frogmore, Aviva Investors, Fitch Ratings and Lloyds TSB. She has researched and published on corporate strategy and brand transformation as part of the research associate programme at INSEAD, Fontainebleau.
Nuveen Real Estate – Randy Giraldo has been appointed to lead the European business. Giraldo, who was most recently the lead portfolio manager of the $30bn real estate account for Nuveen’s parent TIAA, has been appointed head of Europe. He joined the company in 2008 and has since held acquisitions and portfolio management positions focused both in the US and Latin America. Giraldo will join the global executive leadership team helping to shape Nuveen’s strategy across the region and setting a clear vision for the future. He will oversee investment activity for the 12 Nuveen Real Estate offices across Europe and he will report to Chris McGibbon, the head of global real estate.
CBRE – Kelli Carhart has been appointed executive managing director and leader of multifamily capital markets for the US. Carhart succeeds Brian McAuliffe, who after ten years leading CBRE’s multifamily practice has transitioned into a national production role as a vice chairman, focused on special multifamily assignments. Carhart joined CBRE in January 2021 and was most recently head of multifamily debt production. Prior to joining the firm, she spent 17 years at Freddie Mac where she served as VP of multifamily production and sales. She will oversee the continued expansion of CBRE’s multifamily business nationally across five regions.
Cushman & Wakefield – John Covert has joined the firm as a director in Denver, Colorado. He will be a member of the real estate services firm’s newly formed Rocky Mountain Residential Land Services. Covert’s background has included a variety of work across the residential sector, including single-family residential development, lot and land acquisition, land development, consulting, urban planning, municipal/regional economic development, business development, client engagement, expert speaking events, data and housing economics, strategic planning, and more. Cushman & Wakefield’s Rocky Mountain Residential Land Services specialises in residential land consulting, acquisitions and dispositions, focusing primarily on the mountain states of Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Covert worked at Zonda (formerly Hanley Wood, Metrostudy) where he most recently served as principal advisory, and previously as senior regional director for the West region. Prior to joining Zonda, he was a research manager for the Denver and Salt Lake offices of The Meyers Group. He has served on the board of directors for The Home Builders Association of Metro Denver from 2006 to 2014, currently sits on the HomeAid Colorado Board (President 2024), is a committee member for the Colorado ULI Community Development Council, and member of the CSU Everitt Real Estate School Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Children’s Diabetes Foundation and Barbara Davis Center Guild.
Altus Power – Diane Brink has joined the firm’s board of directors. Brink will additionally chair the compensation committee and serve as a member of the audit committee. She replaces the board position previously held by Sharon Daley, who has resigned as a director of the company to pursue other professional opportunities. Brink will serve as director for the remainder of Daley’s term, which expires at the company’s 2025 annual meeting of stockholders. Brink brings over thirty-five years of experience at IBM where she was most recently chief marketing officer of IBM Global Technology Services. Brink is a senior fellow and adjunct professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Kellogg Markets and Customers Initiative. Brink is currently a member of the Belden board of directors and the indie Semiconductor board of directors.
IFM Investors – Deepa Bharadwaj is to take over from Christian Seymour who will be retiring as head of Europe infrastructure. Bharadwaj joined IFM in 2017 and has extensive global expertise in the infrastructure and energy sectors, having worked in the US, Asia and the EMEA. She moved to London in 2019, where she currently has senior-level responsibility for managing IFM’s infrastructure operations, including fundraising, sourcing investment opportunities, transaction execution, asset management, and developing client relationships. Before joining IFM, Bharadwaj worked at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore in a number of senior leadership roles. She will lead IFM’s infrastructure business in Europe following Seymour’s retirement. Seymour will remain with the company as a senior advisor and take over responsibility for IFM’s peer review team.
Middleburg Communities – Robin Bettarel has been appointed managing director of development. Bettarel will be responsible for leading the development activities for Middleburg’s entire Mid-Atlantic portfolio, including overseeing its development pipeline, sourcing new growth opportunities and managing the regional development team. She will report to Selim Tay-Agbozo, president of Middleburg Development, the business division that oversees the firm’s development activities. Bettarel joins Middleburg from Hoffman & Associates, where she served as SVP of development and oversaw a number of dynamic development projects. Prior to Hoffman & Associates, Bettarel served as SVP and director of development for May Riegler Properties. Bettarel also spent time serving as development manager EastBanc and Taurus Development.
Valesco Group – The European real estate investment and asset manager, has appointed former Ballymore Asset Management finance director, Ross McCaskill, as CFO. McCaskill, who will be based in London, brings two decades of real estate and private equity sector experience and will oversee Valesco’s finance and accounting function. He will be responsible for heading up the group’s finance strategy, including reporting and risk management, as well as building out the operational framework to optimise scalability thereby supporting the strategic growth of the business. Prior to Ballymore, McCaskill was COO at pan-European real estate investment and asset manager, Ekistics Property Advisors and CFO at Conygar Investment Company. McCaskill is a committee member and former chair of the Oxford Real Estate Society. He is also a Trustee of Career Compass.
Platzer Fastigheter – Johanna Hult Rentsch has been appointed CEO. She will take up the post of CEO in the summer, by 14 August 2023 at the latest. Current CEO P-G Persson will continue as CEO of Platzer until Rentsch takes up the post. She was most recently head of department for Region Väst at NCC Property Development. She has previously worked with property development in South-East Europe for Inter Ikea Centre Group and she has also managed her own property development business. Rentsch is a board member of West Sweden Chamber of Commerce.
