Henning Koch has been appointed head of the newly created transactions division at German fund manager Commerz Real as of September 2017.
In his function as global head, Koch will be responsible for and coordinate all international real estate acquisitions and selling activities in the future, reporting directly to the chairman of the board of managing directors, Andreas Muschter.
'We intend to push ahead with our investment activities in the coming months and have therefore decided to upgrade the transaction management to an independent division within my sphere of responsibility,' said Muschter. 'As a proven expert for open-ended and special funds – both for private clients and institutional investors – Henning Koch will play a pivotal role in this respect.'
Koch joins the company from Credit Suisse's property arm, where as head of acquisition & sales he was responsible for international transactions for various real estate investment products. Before moving to Credit Suisse in 2006, the business and real estate economist worked in several departments at real estate advisor Savills in Frankfurt and London.
In the first five months of the current year, Commerz Real has already acquired properties with a value of approximately €1.2 bn for its open-ended real estate fund hausInvest alone, corresponding approximately to the acquisition volume for 2016 as a whole. The properties include the Facebook offices in Seattle, the Pacific Beach Hotel in Honolulu and the shopping centre 'Forum City Mülheim'.
