Ernst & Young has hired Cushman & Wakefield's former Spanish boss Roger Cooke as a new independent senior advisor as part of plans to boost its real estate advisory business in Spain, PropertyEU has learned.
Ernst & Young has hired Cushman & Wakefield's former Spanish boss Roger Cooke as a new independent senior advisor as part of plans to boost its real estate advisory business in Spain, PropertyEU has learned.
Ernst & Young is planning to build up a real estate team in its Corporate Finance department and Cooke will participate in the assessment of the strategic direction as senior advisor. He will not, however, have an executive role within the organisation.
Cooke is also currently an independent advisor to Grupo Lar's newly-launched real estate investment trust as well as president of the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain, and member of the Executive Committee of the British Hispanic Foundation.
Ernst & Young's corporate finance team in Spain is led by Rafael Roldán, who will work alongside Cooke to develop the property business. 'The arrival of Roger Cooke will for sure allow us to gain a position as advisors of reference in the transactions that the Real Estate sector has to offer,' commented Rafael Roldán, EY Transaction Advisory Services managing partner.
The advisory group has recently hired hotel specialist Helena Burstedt, who previously worked for Knight Frank and JLL, as well as Jaime Gómez-Llera, who joined from construction groups Cabbsa and Grupo Pedralbes.
'I am delighted to have this opportunity of working with another leading global brand and to bring my experience to help them develop the next phase of their advisory business,' Cooke told PropertyEU.
Cooke had been a partner and head of C&W's Spanish business since 1995. He was previously a partner in the London office where he was responsible for valuation and public sector consultancy.