CBRE hires US acquisitions MD

CBRE Global Investors has hired a former JPMorgan executive to join its US value-added division, which currently is in the midst of fundraising and investing. 

According to a statement, Mahesh Katkar has joined the Los Angeles-based real estate investment giant as a managing director with its Strategic Partners US unit. In the newly created post, Katkar is involved with the sourcing, underwriting, structuring and management of new equity investments, capital markets activity and the development of new programme offerings and business opportunities. A spokeswoman for CBRE confirmed that Katkar is based out of the firm’s Los Angeles office and will report directly to Vance Maddocks, president of Strategic Partners US. 

Prior to joining the firm, Katkar was with JPMorgan Real Estate Special Opportunities, JPMorgan’s proprietary commercial real estate investment platform, where he managed the New York office. Prior to that, he had held posts at Barrow Street Capital and Morgan Stanley.

Katkar joins the Strategic Partners US division at a time when its investment team is quite active. Indeed, the division has been on a buying spree of late, having recently bought six properties at a total value of $536 million. The properties include 400 South Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles as well as an office property in Atlanta and two multifamily assets each in Denver and Baltimore.

Although CBRE declined to comment on the unit’s fundraising activities, market sources have revealed that the firm has purchased these assets on behalf of its sixth value-added fund. The vehicle, CBRE Strategic Partners US Value VI, is seeking $750 million in equity commitments to purchase, reposition and sell institutional-quality properties in select US markets. The firm is understood to have raised approximately $350 million in equity for the fund as of July.