Henderson Park hires asset management head – exclusive

The London-based real estate investment manager has made the next step in its evolution by hiring former Cerberus Capital senior vice-president Gijs Molenaar to lead the firm's asset management function. 

Henderson Park, the London-based real estate investment manager, has hired Gijs Molenaar as head of asset management.

Molenaar, who has 17 years’ experience in the industry, will be responsible for overseeing the asset management of all of Henderson Park’s investments, working with its investment and asset management teams and will report directly to founder Nick Weber.

He joins Henderson Park after spending three years as senior vice president at Cerberus Capital, where he was responsible for its pan-European non-performing loans and direct asset structures. This included overseeing the asset management of over £10 billion of assets in Cerberus’ European ‘top of the book’ and complex asset portfolios.

Prior to his latest appointment, Molenaar was a director of asset management at Hammerson in London from 2012 until 2014. Before that, he spent three years as development director at Redevco.

“Having already made two significant acquisitions and with a strong pipeline of further investment opportunities, we have appointed Gijs to focus specifically on the business plan implementation of our key assets,” said Weber.

“As head of asset management, Gijs will assist and advise our deal teams while working closely with and overseeing our local operating partners as we seek to create value for our clients. Having interviewed a number of applicants, Gijs was the stand out candidate both in terms of his long track record and highly relevant experience, as well as his fit with the team and our goals,” he added.

Former Mount Kellett executive Weber launched Henderson Park in September after receiving $500 million of backing from Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity firm Stone Point Capital, sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority, and New York and Kuwait-based investment manager, Wafra Investment Advisory Group.

Since then, the firm has made fives senior executive hires from established names such as Goldman Sachs, Mount Kellett and Situs.

In November, Henderson Park also made its first acquisition, the €365 million Le Meridien Etoile hotel, the largest hotel in Paris.

While in March, the firm teamed up with Greystar to enter the UK private rented sector when it acquired a 172-unit portfolio in London for around £140 million ($172.5 million; €162.7 million).