Grosvenor promotes Michael Beattie to chief portfolio officer

Grosvenor Americas has promoted Michael Beattie to chief portfolio officer for all its US assets, following the retirement of Dave Olson.

Beattie was formerly senior vice president of portfolio management in charge of the firm’s Canadian assets. He takes over from Olson, who retired from Grosvenor after more than 20 years with the company.

Grosvenor revealed in its 2008 annual report that it had also postponed its $400 million Grosvenor New York Multi–Family Fund because of “inauspicious markets”.

Speaking to PERE last May, Grosvenor Americas president Doug Callantine said the demographics for the New York rental market, including ground-up developments in the city and surrounding areas, were extremely attractive. However, following the credit crunch Grosvenor has decided to postpone this fund.

Callatine said at the time that Grosvenor Americas had also reversed a freeze on investments from its $100 million opportunistic debt fund, Grosvenor Residential Investment Partners, which was originally launched in 2007.

According to the firm's 2008 annual report, Grosvenor purchased a portfolio of senior loans on 32 single-family homes and 126 lots in Atlanta, Georgia, in November 2008. To date the fund has just two portfolios of loans, including another package of senior loans on 26 lot subdivisions on 73 acres of land at Harrison Township, in New Jersey. The firm said the deals took “advantage of the attractive pricing and unique market conditions”.

Grosvenor, which first started operating in 1677 and now controls approximately 300 acres of prime central London real estate including vast swathes of Mayfair and Belgravia, branched out into fund management in 2005. It bought asset manager Legg Mason Real Estate in 2006 to help boost its fund management presence in North America and Canada and, globally, has 70 investors in 23 funds and separate accounts.