Will LaSalle take Blackstone’s crown?

LaSalle Investment Management is vying to replace Blackstone as Global Firm of the Year in the PERE Awards. You still have time to cast your votes for this and other 2008 Global PERE Awards categories.

LaSalle Investment Management is jockeying for position in the battle to take the title of PERE’s Global Firm of the Year.

With thousands of voted counted in the third annual PERE awards, the Chicago-based private equity real estate has opened up a lead over its rivals The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Lone Star Funds and MGPA. Last year, the title of global firm of the year was awarded to Blackstone.

However, with just over a week to go until polls close there is still plenty of time for Blackstone, Carlyle, Lone Star and MGPA to challenge for first place.

More than 60 firms have been shortlisted as potential winners in the only industry awards nominated and voted on by private equity real estate professionals.

In Europe, William Benjamin of AREA Property Partners, Leon Bressler of Perella Weinberg Partners, Marc Mogull of Benson Elliot Capital Management, and Roger Orf of Citi Property Investors are all within a few percentage points of one another in the race to clinch industry figure of the year.

And in North America, Lone Star’s first real estate fund, Lone Star Real Estate Fund I, is neck and neck with Morgan Stanley’s latest opportunistic fund, MSREF VII, and Rockpoint’s third fund, the $2.5 billion Rockpoint Real Estate Fund III.

Voting will close on 31 January, after which the results will be published simultaneously on PrivateEquityRealEstate.com and in the PERE magazine in March.

Click here for the Global awards.

Click here for the North American awards.

Click here for the European awards.

Click here for the Asian awards.

Who will be crowned firm of the year in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa? Click on the link to vote.

The rules are simple: You may only vote once, you are not required to vote in all categories – only vote in the categories that are of interest to you – and you may not vote for yourself or your own firm.