RREEF’s head of client relations departs firm

Susan Barlow has left the real estate investment arm of Deutsche Bank after two years. It follows news that Chuck Leitner was stepping down as global head to lead the non-profit Greenprint Foundation.

RREEF Alternative Investments’ head of client relations Susan Barlow has left the firm, PERE has learned.

The managing director and head of global client relations joined the property investment arm of Deutsche Bank in May 2008, after co-founding real estate fund of funds American Value Partners and placement agent Fiduciary Capital. Barlow was also a managing director at the real estate arm of consultancy firm Callan Associates.

Barlow is believed to have left in the second quarter of this year. A RREEF spokeperson declined to comment on timing but said the departure followed a reorganisation of RREEF's client relations team, along regional team lines, with each geography reporting to the relevant regional head of real estate.

News of Barlow’s departure comes after RREEF veteran Chuck Leitner stepped down as global head last week, to be replaced by Pierre Cherki, formerly head of Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Cherki will relocate from London to New York to take up the role.

Leitner, who has been at RREEF for 20 years, will remain with the bank as RREEF chairman and senior adviser after being appointed chief executive of the non-profit Greenprint Foundation, an alliance of real estate owners, investors and financial institutions, founded in 2009, which aims to reduce carbon emissions in the industry.

In a letter to investors, seen by PERE, Leitner said he had taken on the Greenprint role to help drive “the change required to reduce our industry’s collective carbon footprint while adding real value to our portfolios. This is an initiative that I, together with Deutsche Asset Management and Deutsche Bank, feel passionately about,” he said.

In 2008, Leitner said in a statement he and the firm had known Barlow “for many years in her role as a consultant” adding that she was a “thought leader in the investment management arena”.

Last week, it was revealed Peter Hobbs, the global head of real estate research at RREEF, had joined real estate tracker Investment Property Databank (IPD) as senior director and head of business development, effectively the number two position at the London-based organisation.

In April, RREEF appointed Paul Keogh as Hong Kong-based chief investment officer of its Asia Pacific arm, replacing Mark Fogle who resigned from the firm at the end of March.