Deals

DE Shaw launches real estate advisory arm

George Rizk and Matthew Coleman will lead the firm’s new workout and restructuring group, to be called DE Shaw Real Estate Advisors.

By
Zoe Hughes
-

DE Shaw has launched a workout and restructuring group to be led by its real estate investments team.

The group, to be called DE Shaw Real Estate Advisers, will be co-led by George Rizk and Matthew Coleman. Rizk is currently head of the private equity firm’s real estate group, while Coleman is senior vice president.

DESRE is expected to target lenders and borrowers on restructuring issues, including foreclosures and bankruptcy. The firm said in a statement it would focus on the middle market.

Last month, DE Shaw closed the sale of a 36 percent stake in Indian developer DLF Asset (DAL) to DLF’s founding family KP Singh for $500 million, according to the country’s Economic Times. DE Shaw invested more than $400 million in DLF Assets in 2007, alongside a raft of other investors, including a Lehman Brothers fund.

The Times report cited unnamed persons as saying the private equity firm didn’t sell the entire 40 percent stake “as it sees the prospect of a better valuation of its investment when DAL goes public”, believed to be next year.