John Saunders, BlackRock Real Estate’s head of Asia Pacific real estate and global head of clients, will depart the New York-based firm for another role following a reshuffle of senior leadership that began in 2022.
Saunders will join a real estate company in Asia Pacific after his official departure in February 2024, according to an internal memo seen by PERE. Meanwhile, he will be transitioning his Asia real estate responsibilities to existing executives Hamish MacDonald and Stella Ju, who will become co-portfolio managers and key persons for BlackRock’s existing and upcoming APAC real estate value-add fund series. Before this, Saunders was the only key person in the existing funds. Meanwhile, his role as head of global clients will be covered by the product strategy and sales specialist teams.
Saunders has worked with BlackRock Real Estate since 2007, including his time at London- and Singapore-based private equity real estate firm MGPA. He became BlackRock’s head of Asia Pacific real estate following the firm’s acquisition of MGPA in 2013.
He was appointed as global head of clients in January this year as part of a wave of senior leadership reshuffling amid the platform’s broader push to restructure its real estate business, according to a PERE report. In addition to his role as head of Asia Pacific real estate, Saunders was also responsible for strengthening the firm’s relationships with its real estate clients and partners globally.
BlackRock Real Estate also announced as early as in January that MacDonald would be added as a co-portfolio manager of the firm’s upcoming Asia value-add funds alongside Saunders as part of the restructuring. Currently, MacDonald is the chief investment officer of Asia Pacific real estate equity. He joined the firm in 2007 as part of the acquisition team in London for its European value-add fund series and he then participated in the build-up of a real estate team in Sydney from 2012.
Meanwhile, Ju was elevated to become the co-portfolio manager for both existing and upcoming funds in the firm’s Asia value-add series alongside MacDonald because of Saunders’ departure. With over 20 years of industry experience, Ju is currently a member of the APAC real estate leadership team where she was responsible for portfolio management. She will report to MacDonald in her new role and will join the global and Asia value-add real estate investment committees.
The US asset management giant has been experiencing waves of senior leadership changes since 2022 as it undergoes a restructuring of its real estate business. In January, the firm announced the setup of BlackRock Real Estate’s global core equity platform. Paul Tebbit was promoted from head of EMEA real estate to global chief investment officer of core real estate to lead the platform. Both Saunders’ and MacDonald’s additional responsibilities were also announced in the same round of personnel changes.
Before that, the firm launched BlackRock Real Estate’s global value-add platform led by Thomas Mueller-Borja in September 2022. In the same period, the platform also lost its long-serving managing director and head of US real estate investment management John Lamb amid other senior departures in the real estate team, according to a PERE report.
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