(LONDON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, has made a series of senior appointments to its European and Middle Eastern Capital Markets team as it significantly increases fundraising and investor services activity in the two regions. The expansion of Hines’ Capital Markets team follows a record year in 2019, when the firm aggregated over €2.35 billion of equity from European clients, the highest since Hines established its presence in Europe in 1991.
The latest hires see the appointment of four Managing Directors within the team: James Morrow, Mohammed Fayad, Sebastian Wohlers and Michael Krause.
Starting September 1st, James Morrow, Managing Director, will lead on capital raising in Europe, excluding the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), based in London. James joins from global asset manager DWS, where he was part of the Global Client Group and oversaw equity raising for global unlisted real estate products from institutional investors in EMEA ex-Germany.
James will work alongside Mohammed Fayad, Managing Director, who was appointed by Hines in March to lead on capital raising in the Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai. Mohammed joins from real estate and private equity investment firm Safanad, where he was a Senior Executive Officer of the firm.
Sebastian Wohlers, who also joined Hines as Managing Director in the Capital Markets team in January, leads Hines’ capital raising activity in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), based in Frankfurt. Sebastian joined Hines from global investment management firm Barings, where he was responsible for German speaking investor coverage.
Michael Krause, Managing Director, has moved into a newly created role leading investor relations for the Capital Markets team across the EMEA region in 2019, based in London. He was previously a separate account manager at Hines and has been with the firm for 13 years.
The new hires bring the EMEA Capital Markets team at Hines to a total of nine people, under the leadership of Michael Haas, who has been part of the Capital Markets team at Hines since 2008. Michael partners with Young Lim in Asia Pacific, J.D. Sitton in the Americas and Mark Earley, CEO of Hines Securities, for global institutional and retail investor coverage at Hines under the leadership of Christopher Hughes, CEO Capital Markets Group, and Cameron Falconer, Deputy Head of the group.
Record year for fundraising and expanding product offering
2019 marks a record year for fundraising from European clients of Hines with over €2.35 billion of commitments to commingled funds and separate account strategies. In Q4 2019, Hines also successfully launched HEVF 2, the second iteration of the Hines European Value Fund, with over €710 million raised since first closing in December and additional equity soft circled. The open-ended Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF) raised more than €850 million over the past 18 months.
In addition to Hines’ European flagship funds and global strategic separate account activities, the Capital Markets team in EMEA will support the capitalization of Hines’ expanding commingled product suite, which will include open-ended flagship strategies for the US and Asia as well as a closed-ended opportunistic flagship strategy for the US.
Michael Haas, Senior Managing Director and Head of EMEA Capital Markets at Hines, said: “While capital markets activity has clearly reduced since the outbreak of Covid-19, especially compared to last year’s success, we are confident in it rebounding, particularly for our flagship activities across Europe, the US and Asia – based on both our existing and new relationships with institutional partners. This will be supported by the meaningfully expanded capital markets expertise in EMEA. I am very happy that we have been able to conclude this expansion with experienced senior hires and that we will be able to service our clients even more holistically with a capital raising lead based in the Middle East as well as a dedicated lead for investor relations.”
James Morrow, Managing Director, Capital Markets at Hines, said: “I am delighted to be joining Hines, a truly vertically integrated and real estate only investment management platform. Hines’ deep expertise across the globe and property life cycle, from acquisitions to operations to development, paired with its breadth of investment vehicles makes the firm an attractive long-term partner for investors.”
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 225 cities in 25 countries. Hines has approximately $144.1 billion of assets under management, including $75.5 billion for which Hines serves as investment manager, including non-real estate assets, and $68.6 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 165 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,426 properties, totaling over 472 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 576 properties, representing over 246 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 16 cities as well as a presence in 55 cities in 13 countries, with €22.7 billion of assets under management, including €19.8 billion for which Hines serves as an investment manager and €2.9 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
