Klein departs Cromwell for Corestate

The former founder of Park Hill’s Real Estate’s European business is to move on from Australia group Cromwell’s European team after 18 months in the job.

Audrey Klein, one of Europe’s best-known placement agents, is to join Swiss private equity real estate firm Corestate Capital.

From mid-January 2018, Audrey Klein will be in charge of expanding the firm’s capital sources, with a focus on international institutional investors.

Klein joins from the London team of Brisbane-based property manager Cromwell Property Group. She had been in the role for around 18 months, having joined Valad Europe – later rebranded to match its parent company – in May 2016 from real estate fund manager Aerium where she had worked for a year.

At Cromwell, Klein had again teamed up with David Kirkby, the pair having worked together at Blackstone where she founded the European business of Park Hill Real Estate, the placement agent business of the real estate giant, back in 2006.

Commenting on the hire Thomas Landschreiber, chief investment officer, CORESTATE, said: “We see a lot of demand from international investors who strive to establish a long-term relationship with high-ranking asset managers like us. The expansion of our client base is one of Corestate’s key targets to become even more attractive. In order to continue Corestate’s growth path, we need excellent management expertise.”

Corestate launched a residential-focused open-ended fund which the firm said it planned to raise €300 million for back in July. The firm’s key market is Germany, with additional activities in other European countries such as Austria and Spain as well as the Benelux countries. Corestate has assets under management of around €22 billion and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.