Credit Suisse ‘hungry for the challenge’

Credit Suisse may have lost a significant portion of its real estate placement team but the bank has insisted it will bounce back from the departures, warning: “We are in this for the long-term and we are hungry for the challenge.”

It’s not what we asked for, but it has happened and we will deal with it. John Robertshaw

The Real Estate Private Fund Group suffered the loss of up to 12 professionals at the start of April, prompting the bank to roll the business into its private equity fundraising platform, the Private Fund Group.

Since then, new head Anthony Carpenito has been charged with rebuilding the business with the help of Eric Lemer in London, Maja Orekar in New York, and PFG co-heads and managing directors John Robertshaw and Anthony Bowe.

However, speaking in the May issue of PERE magazine, Robertshaw said there was no question of what needs to happen next. “It’s not what we asked for, but it has happened and we will deal with it,” he said.

“We are going to surprise our skeptics out there. We are in this for the long-term and we are hungry for the challenge.”

We are going to surprise our skeptics out there. We are in this for the long-term and we are hungry for the challenge. Robertshaw

Click here to read the full interview. For more information on subscribing to PERE, click here.

In April, up to 12 executives left the firm to join investment firm Greenhill & Co, including New York-based Manjul Ramchandani and Lee Purcell, Chicago-based Doug Kinney and Alok Gaur and London-based Daniel Taylor and Ben Linder. It is unclear when they are expected to start at Greenhill.

London-based Jan-Christoph Klein and New York-based Chris Keber are also believed to have left Credit Suisse's real estate placement business, with Keber departing for Starwood Capital Group.

The resignations followed the departure of the four senior members of REPFG in March. Bill Thompson, Walter Stackler, Pamela Wright and Fredrik Elwing joined Greenhill as managing directors to build the firm’s fundraising business. REPFG was led globally by Thompson from San Francisco. Stackler, Wright and Elwing were co-heads of the placement agent, operating from New York, San Francisco and London respectively.

The real estate placement team was originally co-founded by Thompson together with former REPFG global co-heads David Hodes and Doug Weill at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, before it merged with Credit Suisse in 2000. Hodes and Weill left Credit Suisse last July to create their own advisory firm, Hodes Weill & Associates.