KKR hires director for UK property investments

New York-based private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) & Co has appointed Meenal Devani to lead its investment drive in the UK and Ireland. 

Devani has joined as a director. In addition to investments in the UK and Ireland, she also will lead its investments in the hotel asset class across Europe. 

“Meenal has strong expertise and experience in the UK real estate market and in the hotel sector,” Ralph Rosenberg, KKR’s global head of real estate said in a statement. “Her knowledge and network will be of great value as we continue to build our business.”

Prior to the appointment at KKR, Devani was the investment director at real estate firm London & Regional Properties and has also worked with McKinsey in London. 

“I am excited to join an investment firm with such outstanding reputation and am especially attracted by the firm’s flexible and entrepreneurial approach to real estate investing,” said Devani.

KKR, which entered the real estate investment market in 2011, has been gradually adding senior executives to its real estate team as it expands its global footprint.

In 2012, a year after former Goldman Sachs senior executive Ralph Rosenberg was hired to build KKR’s real estate platform, another Goldman Sachs executive Guillaume Cassou was brought on board to lead its European operations.

Following Cassou’s appointment, the firm made its first European deal in June 2013, acquiring a portfolio of retail parks in the UK.

It then set its sight on the Asian market, hiring former JP Morgan executive Bryan Southergill to steer its Asia real estate operations in May last year. 

Its most recent acquisition in the region was the acquisition of a 70 percent stake in Melbourne’s World Trade Centre in partnership with Abacus Property Group for $120.4 million.