LaSalle Investment Management announced on Thursday that Michael Zerda will be rejoining the firm to head up its debt & special situations platform and value-add equity strategies, spearheading higher return investment initiatives.
Zerda will work closely with Amy Klein Aznar, who will transition to the role of Executive Chair of debt & special situations later this year.
Later in the year Michael Zerda will become the head of debt and special situations, overseeing its existing multi-strategy debt business of over 30 professionals, and spanning senior debt, mezzanine, and high yield strategies, as well as growing its special situations and value-add equity strategies. He brings a 20-plus year track record of equity and debt investing in European real estate. He was most recently head of Europe for Blackstone’s Real Estate Debt Strategies (BREDS).
Amy Klein Aznar will become the executive chair of LaSalle’s debt and special situations platform. In her new role, she will remain closely involved in investment strategy and decision making, client relationships and communication, and will serve on the debt and Special Situations Investment Committee. She will also continue to meaningfully co-invest in current and future investment vehicles. Her decision to move to the role of Executive Chair will reduce her day-to-day responsibilities and enable her to devote more time to her family’s business interests.
Zerda and Aznar worked together from 2009 to 2016 while building the Debt and Special Situations at LaSalle and have a long-term business and working relationship, spanning 17 years.
The appointment follows the departure of one of LaSalle's debt team's most senior members who left to join Tristan Capital Partners. Daniel Pottorff, former MD at LaSalle Debt investments & special sits, joined Tristan in February as head of debt.
The move comes at a time of significant growth for the platform and continued strong investment performance across its multiple business lines. Since inception, LaSalle’s Debt and Special Situations team has raised nearly € 6bn, with the fourth fund in the flagship European real estate mezzanine series, LREDS IV, expected to hold its next closing at €900 mln and is on track to exceed its €1 bn fund raise target.
