CBRE GI names EMEA deal chief

John Mulqueen has been appointed as head of transactions EMEA at the Los Angeles-based real estate investment management giant.

Los Angeles-based real estate investment management giant CBRE Global Investors has appointed John Mulqueen to the newly-created role of head of transactions EMEA.

Mulqueen will be responsible for overseeing the EMEA region transaction strategy, including deal sourcing, acquisitions and disposals.

Mulqueen joined CBRE GI 18 months ago as head of value add UK from UK property company Hammerson as London group director, where he was responsible for Hammerson’s £1.6 billion (€2.2 billion; $2.5 billion) central London office portfolio.

“We have another significant year of transactional activity ahead of us with around €6 billion to execute and the appointment of John will allow for extra emphasis on capital deployment,” commented Sophie van Oosterom, CBRE GI’s new EMEA chief investment officer.

van Oosterom was appointed EMEA chief investment officer of CBRE GI last month having been promoted from her role as the head of special programmes EMEA, In her new role, Van Oosterom will focus on investment strategy, investment underwriting and performance management in EMEA.

The moves at the top for CBRE GI in Europe come at a time when the firm has more capital to put to work than before. Speaking exclusively to PERE, CBRE GI’s chief executive officer, Matt Khourie, said: “We’re coming into this year with much more dry powder than we’ve had in previous years. I’d say we’ve had above-market success in capital raising which will allow us to buy more this year than we’ll sell.”