Blackstone makes real estate leadership changes

Blackstone has a new global co-head of real estate after creating new leadership roles and announcing promotions.

Nadeem Meghji has been elevated to global co-head of real estate to take the place of Ken Caplan, who has also been promoted to the newly created role of co-chief investment officer at Blackstone, the firm announced this week. Caplan will now work alongside Lionel Assant, who most recently served as European head of private equity. Meghji, previously head of real estate Americas, will work with Kathleen McCarthy, who continues to serve as global real estate co-head.

The three are among of the longest-tenured investment professionals at the firm, Blackstone chief executive Steve Schwarzman said in a statement, adding Blackstone is readying for an “active” investment period. “They bring strong track records of delivering for our customers, considerable institutional knowledge, and exceptional investment acumen to these new roles,” he said.

Caplan has been with Blackstone for 27 years, and before being promoted to global co-head of real estate in 2018 was the real estate CIO for two years. From 2012 to 2015 he ran the company’s European real estate business. His focus as co-CIO will be investment oversight across the real estate, credit and insurance platforms.

Assant has been with Blackstone for 21 years and has run the European private equity business in London since 2012. He will continue in that role, but will also provide oversight across corporate private equity, infrastructure, tactical opportunities, growth and life sciences businesses. Additionally, Gio Cutaia has been promoted to global chief operating officer of real estate.

Blackstone is the world’s largest real estate manager and has topped of PERE‘s ranking of managers by capital raised throughout its 15-year history. Last year, the firm invested more real estate capital in Europe than any other region, allocating over more than half of its global real estate investments to Europe. In a PERE interview published last week, James Seppala, the firm’s head of Europe real estate, said he expected the firm could be even more active in the region in 2024.

Blackstone’s real assets under management total $330 billion, and overall its assets under management hit the $1 trillion mark last year.