Hendrikse to head European arm of CBREI-ING REIM

Pieter Hendrikse, CEO of ING REIM Europe, will be the new European CEO of the mammoth real estate investment fund manager to emerge from the combination with CBRE Investors.

The European part of the new company will be headquartered in The Hague where ING REIM is currently located. The combine will also have sizeable offices in Paris and London, Matt Khourie, Chief Executive Officer of CB Richard Ellis Investors, told PropertyEU.

On Tuesday, CB Richard Ellis Group announced it was acquiring the majority of the real estate investment management business of Netherlands-based ING Group for $940 mln (EUR 696 mln) in cash.

In total, CBRE is taking control of approximately $59.8 bn of assets under management (AUM), including $29.5 bn in Europe, creating a giant with nearly $100 bn of AUM. CBRE currently has AUM of $37.6 bn. The merged company will become the world's biggest real estate investment manager, ahead of AXA REIM.

Jean Lamothe, who was recently appointed head of CBRE Investors’ pan-European activities, will lead the integration of the two companies' UK and French operations. After completion of the deal, he will head the combined UK business and oversee CBRE Investors' Strategic Partners Europe Fund series.

Khourie said he was 'very excited' about the new combine. 'Our businesses are so complementary that there is a very minimal overlap. The core competencies of CBRE Investors' European operations are its UK separate account business, which is very large, as well as its value add and opportunistic business and its strong fund of funds business. ING REIM's European business is geared more towards strong separate accounts in Continental Europe. They have a much bigger focus on core and core plus funds.'

He added that ING REIM has a far stronger presence in Continental Europe than CBRE Investors. 'They have large operations in Spain, Italy, the Nordics and Central Europe while we have very small operations in these countries. We also have very few overlapping clients, there will be no duplication because our client lists are very different.'

CBRE has been keen to emphasise that the acquisition will not have a big impact on most of its staff. In an internal memo, CBRE's CEO Brett White said CBRE 'will be keenly focused on growing both the investment management and services businesses as the market recovery continues to unfold.' He said the acquisition would 'materially strengthen' CBRE's investment management platform, but added: 'Most of you will feel or see no impact from it, as this business will continue to be run separate from our services company'.

Brett added in the memo that he expected the transaction to close in the second half of this year.