KKR promotes four senior real estate executives globally

KKR has promoted four real estate executives to the second most senior level of the firm in its latest round of global promotions.

The New York-based manager announced the promotion of eight partners and 33 managing directors globally, according to a statement. Among the four real estate executives  endorsed as managing directors, three are based in New York and one is in Tokyo.

In New York, the firm promoted Brett Kelly and Ben Brudney in the real estate equity team, and Adam Simon in the real estate credit team, to managing directors. In Tokyo, Kensuke Kudo in the real estate equity team was promoted to managing director.

Kelly has been with the firm for more than 10 years and was most recently a director and co-head of US asset management in the real estate equity team. During his time at KKR, he led the build-out of the firm’s lodging platform and acquisition activities as well as helping to set up a real estate team in San Francisco. He also played a key role in the firm’s real estate acquisitions on the West Coast.

Brudney joined the firm in 2014 and was most recently a director overseeing KKR’s US industrial real estate investments. In addition, he also covered the firm’s office investments across the Sunbelt and participated in the launch of KKR’s self-storage investment platform in 2020.

Simon joined KKR in 2015 when the firm was launching its commercial real estate lending business. He was most recently a director and senior originator, sourcing almost $7 billion of balance sheet loans secured by real estate across the US. He participated in originations and asset management for KKR’s different real estate strategies and played a key role in talent development within the firm. Prior to joining KKR, Simon was a vice president at Rialto Capital Management, responsible for originating and structuring real estate debt and equity transactions, as well as asset management.

In Tokyo, Kudo joined the firm’s real estate equity team in 2022. Before that, he was a managing director at Fortress Investment Group where he spent 11 years focusing on opportunistic investments in sectors including office, residential, data centers and affordable housing.

The private equity giant has been actively growing its real estate business globally, with its assets under management climbing from $36 billion at the end of 2021 to $65 billion as of September 2023. One year ago it announced the launch of its real estate credit business in Europe with a stated aim to originate up to $2 billion in loans in the region over 2023, according to a PERE report. In Asia, the firm is reportedly looking to raise $2.5 billion for its second Asian real estate fund after it closed its debut KKR Asia Real Estate Partners on $1.73 billion in 2020.