Cushman & Wakefield European capital markets partner James Lombard is leaving to join Knight Frank.
Retail specialist Lombard will take up a new role at Knight Frank next month, focusing on long income and sale and leaseback transactions.
He is the latest in a number of long-serving retail investment specialists to leave Cushman. UK retail capital markets head Justin Houlihan is departing and will join UK retail and lesiure agency Harvey Spack Field.
Houlihan had recently been appointed Cushman’s UK retail investment head after Patrick Knapman left last year after 30 years at the firm and took up a senior post at UK retail broker Morgan Williams.
While food and convenience retailing is thriving, the number of large shopping centre sales - traditionally big earners for the largest firms - has slumped across Europe.
Lombard began his career at Cushman 14 years ago, working in the Paris office. At Knight Frank, he will be based in London.
Knight Frank’s co-head of European capital markets, Mike Bowden, said long-income and sale and leaseback deals ‘have seen significant growth over the last few years, with circa €17 billion being invested in corporate and owner-occupied real estate in Europe in 2020. That is over 40% above the long term average of €11 billion and as such we are very excited that James is joining our team.’
Despite the pandemic, during 2020 a record number of investors bid on long-leased food retail across the continent, Bowden added.
He said at the same time, Covid-19 has constrained availability of debt and changed ways people work and shop, leading more businesses to look at alternative routes to generate liquidity. Some are turning to their real estate to free-up balance sheet equity.
One of the recent large transactions which Lombard worked on was the sale and leaseback by Mercadona of 27 stores in Spain, bought by LCN Capital Partners. He said: ‘When you compare European investment volumes with those of North America, it becomes even more apparent that there is huge growth potential.’
