Investcorp launches European RE strategy

The Bahrain money manager has tapped former Macquarie executive Neil Hasson to lead its push into the European property sector.

Investcorp, Dubai's state-owned investment management business, is entering the European real estate market in order to diversify its range of investment products outside the US.

 

The firm, which was the first to funnel Gulf money into Western real estate, has appointed Neil Hasson as a managing director to spearhead the initiative.

 

Hasson joins Investcorp from the Macquarie Group where he was responsible for the firm's European real estate lending business. Prior to this, Hasson spent seven years at Citi Property Investors, where he was head of Europe and chief investment officer of CPI Capital Partners Europe, a €1.15 billion pan-European real estate fund.

 

His role at Investcorp will be to build the real estate investment business in Europe with an initial focus on core-plus opportunities in residential and commercial properties across the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. He will be based in London and will report to Investcorp's New York-based head of real estate investment, Jonathan Dracos.

 

“Diversification into the European real estate market is a key element of Investcorp's strategy. Investcorp has long-served its client base with global and diversified investment products – entering European real estate is the next logical strategic step for the firm,” commented  Mohammed Al-Ardhi, executive chairman at Investcorp.

 

Investcorp has grown into being one of the biggest foreign buyers of US real estate. The firm closed transactions with a value totalling around $1.5 billion in the past year, including student housing in Florida, apartments in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Minneapolis, and commercial property in the Northwest, Southwest and West Coast.