Berlin-based CR Investment Management has opened an office in Ireland where it expects EUR 70 bn of distressed real estate-backed bank assets to come to market by 2015.

Berlin-based CR Investment Management has opened an office in Ireland where it expects EUR 70 bn of distressed real estate-backed bank assets to come to market by 2015.

The Dublin office will be headed by newly appointed director Chris Ogle, formerly of Lehman Brothers who latterly served as adviser to the UK Treasury in the investment management team at the Asset Protection Agency. A significant part of Ogle's role at the Asset Protection Agency related to the resolution of Irish assets.

CR Investment Management has 100 employees and more than EUR 4 bn assets under management. It will now be represented in nine office locations across five countries.

Ogle said: 'The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) and Irish banks will be confronted with distressed Irish real estate portfolios worth EUR 70 bn by 2015. The Irish real estate market shows interesting parallels to the situation in Germany.

'CR's longstanding expertise in the management of commercial real estate portfolios and restructuring of underlying credit exposure, as well as our excellent contacts within the international investment community will significantly contribute to the resolution of distress seen in the Irish real estate market and thus to Ireland's national economy.'