Deals

Patrizia bolsters senior team with Praum hire

The German real estate investment manager has made its third significant hire of the year, following the recruitment of CIO Anne Kavanagh in January and director of international capital markets Dirk Bootsma in July. 

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Patrizia Immobilien has appointed former Deutsche Postbank and IVG Immobilien executive Martin Praum as group head of investor relations.

Praum joins from German bank Deutsche Postbank where he served as head of investor relations for two years. Prior to working for Deutsche Postbank, Praum worked at Bonn, Germany-based real estate firm IVG Immobilien for seven years, culminating in his appointment as managing director and head of communications and capital markets. Before that, Praum worked as a real estate analyst for ABN Amro.

Patrizia’s latest recruit has taken over from predecessor Michael Tegeder, who the firm said had left to pursue other interests, and will report to the chief financial officer Karim Bohn.

Bohn said: “We are delighted that with Martin we have been able to win both a proven real estate and finance expert for our capital market communications team.”

Praum’s recruitment comes hot on the heels of another hire. In July, Patrizia appointed Dirk Bootsma as director of international capital markets for Europe. Bootsma, who has more than 13 years’ experience in European real estate investment management, joined Patrizia from €205 billion Dutch pension manager PGGM.

While in January, the investment manager hired Anne Kavanagh as its chief investment officer. Kavanagh joined from AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets where she spent the last seven years as the firm’s global head of asset management and transactions.

Both Kavanagh and Bootsma have been tasked with delivering the firm’s stated ambition of expanding its footprint in Europe.

Following Kavanagh’s arrival, Patrizia’s management board now comprises four members: her, Wolfgang Egger, chief executive officer; Klaus Schmitt, chief operating officer; and Bohn.

The three appointments follow a busy year for Patrizia, which manages over €18 billion of real estate assets. In that time, the firm has made further appointments across its US, Europe and Australia offices and has secured major investments for a growing number of international investors, such as the acquisition of Germany’s tallest building, the Commerzbank Tower, for €800 million, on behalf of an Asian investor.