Liquid expands investment team

The San Francisco-based secondaries specialist is growing its team of private equity real estate pros with a new hire and internal promotion.

Liquid Realty Partners has appointed Blake Walker as an analyst at the firm and at the same time promoted Brendan MacDonald to associate director.

In his new position, MacDonald will be responsible for executing the firm’s private equity real estate secondary investments. Prior to joining Liquid, MacDonald was a member of the investment and finance groups of Babcock & Brown and General Electric’s global sponsor finance group. MacDonald has a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in economics from Indiana University.

Walker is joining as a member of Liquid’s acquisition group and will report to MacDonald. He will be tasked with acquisition of secondary investments. Prior to Liquid, Walker was a member of the acquisition team at Jackson Square Properties and a software analyst with Fannie Mae. He has a Master of Finance from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and a Bachelor of Arts in economics with a minor in history from Duke University.

Last year, the secondaries firm was busy with back-office hires including the appointment of Scot Marsh as senior controller and Krista Jones as fund controller. Liquid closed its fourth secondaries fund in December 2007 on $570 million (€363 million).