US-based private equity firm HIG Capital has appointed Graham Emmett as managing director in its European real estate team.

US-based private equity firm HIG Capital has appointed Graham Emmett as managing director in its European real estate team.

Emmett has over 25 years in real estate, with a particular focus on investment and transactional experience in all parts of the capital structure. He will be based in HIG Europe's London office.

Prior to joining HIG, Emmett was an investment partner in the real estate division of London-based alternative asset manager Cheyne Capital. He was lead portfolio manager of Cheyne's listed real estate debt vehicle.

Before that Emmett was partner at ICG Longbow, a London-based real estate lender, and served as head of lending and corporate finance on the executive management team of Irish bad bank, Nama.

Earlier in his career, Emmett was a member of Goldman Sach’s Special Situations Group, where he was head of the European Mezzanine debt investments team, and finance director of UK property investor and adviser Delancey.

HIG Capital’s European real estate platform targets direct principal equity investments, junior debt investments and whole loans in opportunistic real estate investments across Europe. The focus is on value-add assets in all sectors.

With offices in London, Madrid, and Milan, HIG's European real estate team has completed 25 transactions over the last two years in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Typical investment size ranges from €10 mln to €100 mln.

HIG Capital has €17bn of equity capital under management.