CIM fundraising head joins Starwood

Starwood Capital Group has hired CIM Group’s head of investor relations fundraising Lanhee Yung to co-lead its global capital raising activities.
 
Yung, who started at the Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm last month, will work alongside Christopher Keber, who was hired from Credit Suisse Real Estate Private Fund Group in June. Yung and Keber have been appointed directors of global capital raising and investor relations responsible for all Starwood capital raising, investor relations and marketing.
 
Yung, who will be based in Los Angeles, spent four years at CIM growing its investor base from a handful of investors to more than 40 LPs and closing over $4 billion in capital.
 
Starwood is actively looking to expand its existing strong investor base of roughly 200 limited partners while continuing to establish a strong network of partners in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, according to Yung. 
 
During the boom years of fundraising of 2006 to 2008, when more than $217 billion of capital was raised for value-added and opportunistic real estate funds, according to PERE data, capital flowed relatively easily from LPs in most parts of the world. Post-crisis, however, fundraising has become much tougher, with GPs in need of an investor base diversified beyond one investor type and geography.
 
Starwood is seeking to further strengthen its relationships with existing investors. Yung added that investor relations had also become a much more important activity for GPs: “Investors want and need more of a human touch and greater interaction.”
 
Starwood, which also invests in the energy and real estate securities sectors, closed its latest opportunity funds in April raising $1.8 billion for the Starwood Global Opportunity Fund VIII and almost $1 billion for the Starwood Capital Hospitality Fund II.