EUROPE NEWS: Man of the moment: Nick Weber

After the best part of two decades plying his trade alongside legendary Goldman Sachs investor Mark ā€˜Goldfingerā€™ McGoldrick, Nick Weber has peeled off to launch his own investment firm.

Weber joined McGoldrick in leaving Goldman Sachs to set up Mount Kellett in 2008, but left last year after a downturn in the firmā€™s fortunes following some ill-timed US energy-related investments.

Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based organization like Goldman Sachs and Mount Kellett, took co-management responsibility of the latterā€™s $5 billion-worth of funds, but by this stage Weber was already planning his own venture. ā€œIā€™ve spent nearly 15 years helping to run large principal investment platforms,ā€ Weber told PERE. ā€œBut I decided to leave to set up my own business and was able to do so with an attributable track record.ā€

That business is called Henderson Park, a private equity real estate firm based in Londonā€™s Victoria. Henderson Park employs almost 10 people already and has seed capital of $500 million-plus. A trio of blue chip investors ā€“ the private equity firm Stone Point Capital and Kuwaiti investors, Kuwait Investment Authority and Wafra Investment Advisory Group ā€“ stumped up the equity. Mount Kellettā€™s European real estate performance record, for which Weber was hailed as responsible, evidently played a role in wooing those groups.

All three are Mount Kellett investors and therefore are familiar with the track record: PERE understands from market sources that the firmā€™s European real estate deals generated a return of more than 25 percent and a 2x equity multiple. ā€œIt was time to take my shot,ā€ he said. ā€œFortress is a great firm, but I wanted to be more personally entrepreneurial and create my own asset management firm. Thatā€™s why I lined up with these world class partners with a vision of building something institutional.ā€

The strategy will be focused on value-add and opportunistic investments in key European property markets. Investments will cover assets and operating companies, direct or indirectly via debt and across all property sectors. ā€œThereā€™s probably $2 billion of deals weā€™re triaging,ā€ said Weber. But weā€™re patient. Our business is all about relationships, some weā€™ve known for five years, some 20 years. Repeat off-market dealflow is how weā€™ll see things.ā€

On the slate already are transactions in the UK, France, Spain and the Nordics. Weber said the first acquisitions should be completed within two months.