Edmond de Rothschild REIM, RICS, GTC, MetaProp, KGAL, Fundamenta, Principal Real Estate Europe, Segro, JLL, Long Harbour, Quintain, Planery, Macquarie Capital, Manulife Investment Management, Credit Suisse Asset Management, Cohen & Steers, GAM Investments

Principal Real Estate Europe – Paul Lewis has been appointed director of European data centres. In this newly created role, Lewis will be Principal Real Estate’s European data centre specialist responsible for data centre asset and transaction management. He will be closely involved with the broader Principal Real Estate investment team in the transaction and underwriting process for all acquisitions across Europe. Lewis joins from Segro where he was latterly director of group data centres with responsibility for the group’s developments across western and central Europe. 

JLL – Carl-Heinrich Kehr has been appointed senior director of funds placement, EMEA. Kehr will focus on managing investor relationships with current clients, as well as fundraising for a wide range of risk-profiles, sectors and strategies. Kehr will be based in Frankfurt. He joins JLL from a large German pension scheme, where he oversaw the general and the real estate investment strategy, working with both internal and external asset managers. Prior to this, Kehr held positions at Mercer working with institutional investors on their asset allocation, their portfolios in real estate and other illiquid and liquid asset classes. 

Cohen & Steers – The global investment manager specialising in real assets and alternative income has appointed Sean Cooney to the role of senior director, EMEA wholesale distribution. Cooney will support the firm’s growing presence within the UK and European wholesale markets, reporting to David Conway, head of wholesale distribution, EMEA. Cooney joins Cohen & Steers from GAM Investments, where he was client director for the UK wholesale distribution channel. He previously worked at Neptune Investment Management, Aviva Investors and others, before joining GAM in 2014.

KGAL Investment Management – The asset manager is expanding its activities in the residential segment with the appointment of a new transaction team led by Rainer Pohl. This team will focus on expanding KGAL’s strategic growth plan in the residential segment through acquisitions in Germany and across Europe. Most recently, Pohl held the position of head of transaction management at Fundamenta Group Germany from 2017 until 2021. Prior to that, he spent ten years at Patrizia in various roles, latterly as director acquisitions residential.

Long Harbour – The specialist real estate manager has appointed Richard MacDowel as capital solutions director as part of the firm’s ongoing expansion in the build-to-rent sector through its multifamily investment investment platform. MacDowel joins Long Harbour from Lone Star-backed property company and BTR operator Quintain. In his role as group treasurer, he was responsible for delivering £1.4bn of new debt facilities to support the ongoing delivery of over 10m sqft of mixed-use development around Wembley Stadium. He previously worked at Lloyds Bank, initially in the impaired real estate loans team, and then subsequently as head of one of the real estate teams. In a newly created role at Long Harbour, he will be responsible for sourcing and leading all debt relationships in the multi family investment investment platform. He will also be monitoring the development of the green financing market and ensure funding activities are aligned with the multi family investment investment platform overall ESG strategy.

Plenary Group – Oliver Barbagallo has joined as executive director, Asia, working with its Singapore team. His and other appointments by the Melbourne-based global infrastructure and developer form a key part of a strategy to tap into the increasing pipeline of infrastructure opportunities in Asia. Barbagallo joins from Macquarie Capital, where he worked for five years as COO and head of delivery, Macquarie Projects, based in Singapore. At Plenary, he is responsible for originating infrastructure development opportunities and leading Plenary bid teams for projects across Asia and the Middle East. Chi-Ling Looi has been promoted to a director on the board of Plenary’s Asian business. She continues to oversee Plenary’s Asian operations and project pursuits. Plenary has also strengthened its existing property capabilities in Sydney, appointing a four-person team – executive directors George Rolfe and Tom Roche, director Jon Kavali, and senior origination manager Zac Freeburn.

Manulife Investment Management – Christoph Schumacher, global head of real estate at Credit Suisse Asset Management, is leaving to spearhead Manulife’s expansion into private real assets. As global head of real assets, private markets, Schumacher will oversee US$42.9bn (€35.3bn) of investments in real estate, infrastructure, timber and agriculture. Steve Blewitt, global head of private markets, told IPE Real Assets that the appointment was the latest step in expanding Manulife’s third-party fund management activities. The insurer has invested in private real assets for several decades, but over the past decade its investment arm “decided to more actively pursue managing private assets for external clients”, Blewitt said. Shumacher, who over the years has held senior leadership positions at the real estate arms of Credit Suisse, Union Investment and Generali, will be well placed to expand Manulife IM’s real estate presence in Europe. 

MetaProp – The New York-based venture capital firm focused on real estate technology has appointed Monica O’Neill as partner to drive the expansion of the firm’s institutional client base. Over the past 30 years, O’Neill has helped build high profile emerging and mid-sized investment management firms in the US and Europe, including raising more than $10bn as a partner and head of investor relations for real estate private equity companies AEW and Tristan Capital Partners. At MetaProp, she will oversee investor relations for endowments, foundations, pension funds, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds and be based in Washington DC.

RICS – Jonathan Manns an executive director at London-based real estate developer Rockwell has been elected to fellowship of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

GTC – The real estate developer focusing on Poland and capital cities in Central and Eastern Europe has appointed Eszter Salamon to the position of transactions director. Prior to joining GTC, she held the position of real estate management director at OTP Real Estate Fund Management. Before that, Salamon held various executive and project finance management positions in CIB and MKB banks in Hungary.

Edmond de Rothschild REIM – Max Grafmüller has been appointed director of the real estate debt team in Frankfurt. He will be responsible for loan execution and portfolio management. Léo Béchet has also joined the team. As associate director, he will be part of the loan origination and execution team. Grafmüller was previously debt finance manager at DIC Asset. Before that he was a loan asset manager at Hatfield Philips (now Situs). Prior to that he was a senior credit analyst at WestImmo. Béchet previously worked as vice president debt finance at Corestate Capital. He was jointly responsible for setting up the real estate integrated sector at BNP Paribas.

EG – James McAdam has been appointed fund manager for the Yield Plus Infrastructure Property Fund No. 2 fund. Formerly a portfolio manager with CIP Asset Management at Challenger Group, McAdam joins EG with 20 years’ experience across the funds management and finance industries. 

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