GTIS senior fundraiser departs

Bill Cisneros, one of the partners of the New York-based real estate investment firm, left the company last month. 

Bill Cisneros, a partner and senior managing director at GTIS Partners, has departed the firm. He had been with the New York-based real estate investment firm, which makes opportunistic investments through the acquisition and development of residential, retail, industrial, office, hotel and mixed-used properties in the US and Brazil, since 2007.

Cisneros was said to have reached a decision to leave GTIS in early May and spent the remainder of the month informing investors of his impending exit. He officially exited the firm at the end of last month. PERE understands that Cisneros did not have immediate plans to join another company.

As one of four senior managing directors at the company, Cisneros was head of GTIS’ equity capital markets group and was responsible primarily for capital formation. He was not a key man for GTIS’ Brazil and US funds, although he recently joined the investment committee for both strategies.

Cisneros will not be replaced and his responsibilities will be assumed by others. Richard Cohen, managing director of equity capital markets, will be in charge of marketing to potential new limited partners. Meanwhile, Peter Ciganik will lead the firm’s investor relations and client services team, with regard to the firm’s existing investor base. He also will be responsible for the firm’s macroeconomic and investment research. In addition, GTIS plans to add two senior-level hires to the six-person fundraising group.

Prior to joining GTIS, Cisneros served in a similar role at GoldenTree Asset Management (GTAM), which had backed GTIS prior to its rebranding from GoldenTree InSite Partners to GTIS Partners in 2010. Before GTAM, he worked at various firms such as Lyster Watson & Company; Vencast, an Internet-based company focused on the institutional alternative investment markets; and Croesus Capital Management, a hedge fund manager dedicated to emerging markets.

As PERE previously reported, GTIS was said to be preparing to launch its third Brazil property vehicle, GTIS Brazil Real Estate Fund III, and its second US residential real estate fund, GTIS US Residential Strategies Fund II. In an April press release, IMRF announced that it had committed $75 million to the Brazil vehicle.