Hodes Weill completes EMEA rebuild with hire

Hodes Weill & Associates, the private real estate capital advisory firm, has hired Ibtissem Sfaxi from Aberdeen Standard Investments to oversee its Middle Eastern capital raising activities.

Sfaxi’s appointment as principal, along with the hire of European-focused capital raiser Jonathan Read in June, sees Hodes Weill plug a hole left by the departures of former managing directors, Matilde Attolico and Zeynep Fetvaci, who joined the capital markets team at Chicago-headquartered property services giant JLL in March. Attolico was responsible for coverage of institutional investors in Europe (ex-the Netherlands) and the Middle East, while Fetvaci was also responsible for coverage of institutional investors in Europe.

Since then, Hodes Weill has been working on finding replacements to re-bolster the firm’s operations in the two regions.

Sfaxi, who has around 15 years’ experience covering the Middle Eastern market, will also share coverage of the European market with Read and regional partner Will Rowson. Read will be responsible for the firm’s activities in northern Europe and the Nordics, while Sfaxi’s focus in the region will be Italy, France and Spain. Rowson will continue to cover the Netherlands, while the UK market will be split between himself and Read.

In the Middle East, Sfaxi’s remit will include UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. She joins from Aberdeen Standard Investments where she was a senior business development manager and property product specialist. She joined Aberdeen Asset Management in 2012 from Pradera Real Estate, where she was responsible for business development in Europe and the Middle East.

Prior to joining Pradera, she was vice-president at JER Partners where she was responsible for capital raising for the firm’s opportunistic fund offerings.

“We are back to full strength now we have Ibti and Jonathan on board. We have found two people who know the markets well,” said Rowson. “Ibti’s insight, knowledge and diverse experience in capital raising and business development across key markets in the Middle East and Europe opens further exciting opportunities for Hodes Weill to build its profile as a key advisor in these growing regions,” he added.

“Hodes Weill has built a strong profile as expert advisors within the Middle East and across Europe and I look forward to enhancing both Hodes Weill’s market position and their network of relationships in these regions,” said Sfaxi.

Some of Hodes Weill's recent clients include New York-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital; London-based private equity firm GreenOak Real Estate; and Toronto-based investment manager Bentall Kennedy.