WP Carey appoints head of European investments

In this role, Mertlitz will oversee WP Carey’s European investment activity including the sourcing, underwriting, negotiating and structuring of all European transactions.

Jason Fox, WP Carey's CEO said: 'We are thrilled to name Chris as head of European investments. Since joining the firm in 2011, he has been critical to the continued growth of our European business and has consistently demonstrated his ability to execute on complex transactions across a multitude of sectors and geographies.

'His diverse expertise and leadership skills made him the right choice for this position. I am confident that with Chris at the helm, we are well-positioned to continue expanding our European portfolio of net lease corporate real estate.'

Mertlitz, who has been executive director, investments at the firm in recent years, also has experience in a number of sectors including engineering, energy and information technology.

WP Carey has been investing in Europe since 1998 and has teams in both London and Amsterdam. Over the past two decades, the firm has completed European investments totalling €7.1 bn and has grown its European real estate to over 35% of its global portfolio.

The firm said that Mertlitz had been integral to this growth having helped lead more than €1.8 bn of investments, most recently with the €87 mln sale-leaseback of a 27-property supermarket portfolio in Northern Spain and the Balearic Islands with Eroski Sociedad Cooperativa, one of the largest food retailers in Spain.

Mertlitz said: 'I’m honoured to lead our European investment efforts and continue working alongside my colleagues here in London, as well as our U.S. transaction team, on multi-jurisdictional investments that will grow our portfolio with high-quality, mission-critical assets.

'Together, we will continue to help companies unlock the value of their real estate assets and redeploy the capital into their core businesses through sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions.'