GRI Chairmen’s Talk

AB Development has been successfully operating on the commercial and residential real estate markets in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. Being a CEO of the company, Alexey Blanin has 20 years of experience in development, he has developed more than 1 mn sqm of quality commercial and residential projects with a total budget exceeding USD 2 bn and net operating income amounting more than USD 500 mn. Alexey started his career in well-known international development company Hines. In 2005-2009 Alexey headed Horus Capital, one of the major players of Moscow commercial real estate market.

André Freitas is a founding partner of Hedge Investments, holding the positions of CEO and CIO. With over 40 years of experience in the financial market, André was a founding partner of Hedging Griffo CV S/A, where he led several initiatives in brokerage and asset management throughout his career at the company, which became one of the largest independent financial institutions in the country. In 2003, he structured and served for 13 years as Director of the real estate financial products management and administration area. After the completion of the sale of Hedging Griffo to Credit Suisse in 2011, André remained as Executive Director until 2016, when he left to found Hedge Investments.

Real asset investor with 20 year track record. Have built and led investment programs through direct investments, co-investments and fund investments in North America, Europe and Asia. Committed $850m+ of equity in 90+ investments in real estate, energy, mining and agriculture. Eight years of direct development experience across office, residential, hospitality, retail and mixed-use projects totalling nine million square feet.

Dr. Christoph Schumacher has been appointed as Global Head Real Estate at Credit Suisse Asset Management as of June 1, 2017. Christoph served as Managing Director at Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH, Germany, in charge of the Institutional Business and a member of Union Investment’s Real Estate Investment Committee. In January 2016, he became spokesman of the board of the German Property Federation ”ZIA Region Nord“. From 2005 to 2011, Christoph worked for Generali Real Estate, in Cologne, Luxembourg and Paris. Prior to that he was a lawyer for Linklaters in Berlin and London. He was previously a personal advisor/office manager to the minister of finance in Berlin.

Coley Brenan, Partner & Head of Europe, KSL Capital Partners. KSL is a leading private equity firm with $7.0 billion of equity capital commitments raised since 2005 and a 20-year track record of making investments exclusively in travel and leisure businesses. Through its investment vehicles, KSL has owned and operated some of the largest and most renowned hotel and resort properties in the United States and Europe, comprising 15,500 hotel rooms, 500 restaurants, 350 retail stores 250 golf courses and 630,000 members.

Dan-David Golla is one of the leading impact investment experts in Germany for investments in social infrastructure and demographic trends. As a pioneer, he constructed one of the first institutional investment funds for nursing homes and assisted living in Germany. With the foundation of AviaRent Capital Management S.à r.l. he established the company as the market leader in this asset class in Germany. During his time as CEO he also initiated the first and one of the largest investment funds for furnished apartments in Germany. Dan-David Golla decisively shaped the market and the concept of the new form of living, Microapartments. He also developed the largest kindergarten portfolio in Germany.

Starting from January 2024, he has been appointed CEO of Costim Group, an industrial group focused on real estate development and on general contracting, with real estate developments amounting to around 800 millions and a turnover of 400 millions. From 2009 to December 2023, he was Managing Director of Risanamento S.p.A, a property and development Company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, with €1 billion of Assets Under Management and CEO of all the subsidiaries of the Group. As CEO of the subsidiaries, he sold assets for € 3.0 billion: Paris properties’portfolio for €1,5 billion, a prestigious building in New York for €0,3 billion and other Italian assets for €1,2 billion.

Dirk Brandes is Member of the Executive Board and Head of Real Estate Finance at NATIXIS Pfandbriefbank AG based in Frankfurt am Main. The Bank combines the special abilities of a Pfandbrief bank with the commercial business resources of Natixis S.A., the corporate and investment bank of Groupe BPCE. The main markets are Germany, France, Italy, Spain and United States. Prior to joining NATIXIS in 2016, Dirk Brandes was Head of Business Origination at HSH Nordbank AG, Hamburg. Previously, he was Head of Commercial Real Estate at DG HYP, Hamburg.

Mr. D’Alessandro is a partner at Castlelake, responsible for non-performing loan and real estate investment opportunities in southern Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Mr. D’Alessandro is also a rotating, voting member of the firm’s Investment Review Committee. He joined Castlelake in 2011 and became a partner in 2017. Mr. D’Alessandro leads the firm’s investment approach to Spanish land banking and is also responsible for its strategy in Portugal, Italy and Greece, the United Kingdom and Ireland. His expertise also includes direct asset and non-performing loan opportunities Germany and Eastern Europe.

Ed Aldag launched Medical Properties Trust in 2003 as the world’s only real estate investment trust focusing exclusively on hospitals. Today, company assets have grown to nearly $25 billion and the number of hospital beds owned is more than 46,000. A business and finance graduate of the University of Alabama, Ed serves on the board of Children’s of Alabama, one of the nation’s leading hospitals for children, and as a director and member of the investment committee of the Alabama Children’s Hospital Foundation. He also serves as a board member of Mitchell's Place, the Birmingham Education Foundation and the American Sports Medicine Institute, and as an executive committee member of the Birmingham Business Alliance.

Ed is the Founder and CEO of Cale Street Partners LLP (“CSP”). CSP is a European focused property investor providing senior and mezzanine debt as well as joint venture equity capital. CSP was founded in 2014 and seeded with €1.1 billion from a sovereign wealth investor with a long term, patient approach to investing. Prior to founding CSP, Ed enjoyed a 23 year career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he held a variety of leadership positions including Global Head of the Real Estate Principal Investment Area and Co-Head of European Merchant Bank. He also served as Chairman of the Global Real Estate Investment Committee and on the European Management and Mortgage Capital Committees.

Prior to joining Mohari, Fabio ran Bain Capital Special Situations and Real Estate division in Europe – a $20bn AuM business that he built since joining the firm in 2013. Further, as part of the senior leadership, his responsibilities covered the US, EMEA, and Asia, with a focus on activities such as Commercial Real Estate, ABS, Illiquid Credit, Special Situations and Principal Distressed. Prior to Bain Capital, Fabio was a Principal in the European Principal Finance Fund at Apollo, where he played a pivotal role in identifying and executing high-impact investment opportunities. Fabio began his career in the Investment Banking group at Goldman Sachs. Fabio holds a M.Eng. from the University of Cambridge and the MIT.

Florian Schaefer is a Senior Managing Director at Northwood and is responsible for sourcing and executing real estate equity and debt opportunities in Europe. Prior to joining Northwood Investors, Mr. Schaefer served as a Managing Director at the Blackstone Real Estate Group. During his 14 year career at Blackstone, Mr. Schaefer was based in London and Hong Kong and was involved in over $10 billion of real estate acquisitions, disposals and financings across all property types in Europe and Asia. He has been involved in the Blackstone Real Estate Group’s international expansion and most recently played a key role in leading Blackstone Real Estate’s core plus business in Asia. Mr. Schaefer received an MBA from the EBS University;

Gregorio Schneider is the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of TC Latin America Partners. He has more than 25 years of experience in emerging markets, investing in both the public and private markets through a variety of assets and strategies, including debt, equity, distressed assets and real estate. Prior to forming TC Latin America Partners, Gregorio was Managing Director and Head of Emerging Markets at Och-Ziff Capital Management, Portfolio Manager at The Rohatyn Group (TRG) and worked at Spinnaker Capital. Gregorio is a member of the EMPEA Latin America Council and the LAVCA real estate council. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the ITAM in Mexico City.

Gustavo Nicolau is an economist graduated from PUC-SP and executive MBA from Ibmec (Insper). He was financial manager of an electrical engineering company with operations in infrastructure, shopping centers, hypermarkets and industries in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. He was also financial and administrative consultant for companies related to the real estate industry and family office, focusing on strategic, corporate and succession planning areas. Developed a residential development in partnership with a major player in the real estate market and established Akylas Patrimonial in the real estate development market.

Ian Baggett (BSc (Hons) PhD) - is the CEO founder of Adderstone Group property development organisation, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Adderstone Group was founded in 1999 and is now one of the UK’s fastest-growing privately owned property businesses. Adderstone Group invests in and develops residential and commercial property, mainly in the North East of England. We are looking forward to forging direct relationships with funds or private investors seeking value in the north of England. We also now have a London office providing great value development management and construction contracting services from our North East cost base to the London market.

Ilyas Aslam is Chief Operating Officer at Quadrum Global and has been there since Quadrum’s inception in late 2013. Ilyas has over 18 years’ experience working within the investment and real estate sectors. During this time Ilyas has held various senior positions. He has established and maintained international offices as well as multi-jurisdictional corporate structures and has also managed numerous cross-border debt projects. He is a finance professional with broad Director level experience of both pan-European corporate & investment structures as well as in wider jurisdictions.

Jon Rickert was Head of European Private Debt at Man Global Private Markets (‘Man GPM’), focusing on commercial and residential real estate debt. Prior to joining Man GPM in 2019, Jon was a managing partner at Renshaw Bay, which was later sold to GAM. Before that, he spent 15 years at JPMorgan, where he was one of the original members of their direct origination team, served as head of the real estate structured finance business in EMEA and ran both the EMEA special situations investing business and the UK residential mortgage business. Jon holds a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Louisville School of Law.

Josh Cleveland is a Partner at StepStone Group and is Head of EMEA for the real estate team. He is also involved in various investment and portfolio management activities. Prior to joining StepStone in 2014, Josh was a Partner at Clairvue Capital Partners, a real estate investment manager that integrated with StepStone to establish StepStone Real Estate. At Clairvue, Josh focused on originating and executing investments in the US and Europe. Before Clairvue, he was a Director at Liquid Realty Partners, an investment manager focused on real estate private equity secondaries. He has also served as a Vice President at Capital Dynamics, a Swiss-based private equity manager, and worked in the debt capital markets divisions of Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of America. He holds a BA from the University of South Carolina.

Lars von Lackum joined LEG Immobilien AG as Chief Digital Officer January 1, 2019 and took over as Chief Executive Officer of the Group on June 1, 2019. He was previously with ERGO Group, Munich RE‘s primary insurance operations, as Chief Executive Officer for the Global LPI activities. Before that, Lars was Deputy CEO and CFO of Corpus Sireo Group and responsible for all private equity clients of the firm. Lars is a graduate of the university of Cologne, is a German Tax Consultant and holds an US CPA.

Luis Pereda Espeso is Executive Chairman of Grupo Lar, a Spanish developer and investor currently active in Europe and Latin America, and manager of Spanish REIT Lar España Real Estate. Luis has a BA in Law and a BS in Econometrics from the University of Madrid, and postgraduate degrees from IESE, MIT and Harvard. He is Professor of Management at the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Advisor to the Board of Grupo Barceló and Member of the Advisory Board of GED Fund Management.

Matteo has over 25 years’ experience in the real estate investments and finance sector, of which almost 10 with GWM. Prior to joining GWM Matteo was managing director of BNP Paribas, CIB division, heading the RE division for Europe ex-France and before that he held a similar role within the global RE group of Lehman Brothers. Matteo executed over €20 bn of RE transactions in Europe, including investments in offices, healthcare, retail, and residential asset classes and private and public debt and equity fund raisings. Matteo has executed over €15 bn of RE transaction in Italy, with counterparties including institutional investors, property companies, public entities, and professional investors.

Mohamad is CEO of SFO Capital Partners and chairs the firm’s Executive and Investment Committees. Mohamad has established SFO’s real estate investment management business and has been leading all aspects of the firm’s development since 2013. With over 16 years of experience, Mohamad has been involved in more than USD15 billion of transactions in both advisory and principle roles across the real estate, hospitality and financial services sectors. Prior to joining SFO, Mohamad held positions at Kingdom Hotel Investments, JLL and Gulf Merger where he advised and acted on behalf of institutional investors and family offices on cross border transactions.

Neil Hasson joined Investcorp in 2016 from Macquarie Group, where he was responsible for the firm’s European real estate lending business. Prior to Investcorp, Mr. Hasson spent seven years at Citi Property Investors, where he was Head of Europe and Chief Investment Officer of CPI Capital Partners Europe. He started his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., followed by four years at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette where he was a Managing Director. Mr. Hasson holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and a MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Nitin has over 25 years of rounded investment experience spanning private equity, private debt, capital markets and M&A. From 2013-2022, Nitin was Head of Direct Investments at L1 Treasury, responsible for all private equity, private debt and special situations investments within L1 Treasury. From 2013 -2019, Nitin was also a Partner in Pamploma Capital Management responsible for private debt and special situations in the credit opportunities fund. Prior to that, Nitin led the European Real Estate and Principal Finance businesses of Nomura and Bear Stearns. Nitin started his career at SG Warburg & Co (now part of UBS) in M&A.

Former Corporate Banker who rose to Executive level before leaving the industry in 2006. Led two high performing transacting teams that became market leaders in PFI and Real Estate. Member of the Bank’s Credit and Investment Committees and held Board positions in Housebuilding, Real Estate and Hotel & Leisure sectors. Became CEO of a pan European Property Company where she implemented a major restructure before moving to set up the UK office for a European Private Equity company. Formed Greyfriars in 2008 as a co-investing advisory business, working with US funds and HNWI sourcing debt and equity opportunities in the UK Real Estate sector. Greyfriars were the lead financial advisor on the delivery of a £300M Regional PRS portfolio.

Paulo Loureiro is the Founder and CEO of Bondstone. He was formerly the Managing Partner of Louvre Capital, a real estate developer focused on high-end residential projects. Since 2016, Paulo has structured real estate projects representing an investment of more than €100 million in Portugal. Prior to founding Louvre Capital and Bondstone, Paulo was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley in New York. He started his career with Schlumberger, spending six years in Argentina and Brazil holding various operational and management positions. Paulo received his MBA with honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and holds a Master of Science degree majoring in Maths and Physics.

Philipp has 20 years' experience in real estate and NPL principal investing across Europe. He joined Castlelake, a global private investment firm with AUM of c. USD15bn, in 2017 and acts as Co-Head of the European Assets Team. Prior to his current role he was a Partner at Benson Elliot where he started in 2009. Previously he was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, managers of the Whitehall Funds within the real estate principal investment area (REPIA). He started his career with Goldman Sachs in London in 2000 and played a leading role in the acquisition of over €6.0 billion of property assets.

Under Raj Menda's visionary leadership, RMZ has become a global leader in alternative asset ownership, strategically investing in high-growth opportunities that foster a sustainable global economy. Raj was the first Indian to serve on the jury of the Urban Land Institute’s Awards for Excellence and currently chairs FICCI's 2026 Committee on Urban Development & Real Estate. His contributions to shaping urban landscapes are both pioneering and unparalleled. Raj’s stewardship drives RMZ’s focus on sustainability and innovation, positioning it as a pioneer in emerging sectors. By leveraging strategic partnerships and advanced business acumen, he ensures RMZ delivers exceptional returns while shaping India's economic landscape with a global outlook.

Renaud Haberkorn is Managing Partner and Member of the Executive Board of Eurazeo where he heads the pan-European Real Asset Division. Eurazeo SE is one of the largest European listed investment company with more than €6Bn of AUM. Renaud has over 20 years of experience in the real estate private and public equity industry across Europe. Renaud started in London at the Real Estate Principal Investment Area of Goldman Sachs. Subsequently, he joined Soros Real Estate Partners and then became a founding partner of Grove International Partners. Finally, and prior to joining Eurazeo, Renaud was appointed CEO of Société de la Tour Eiffel, a French REIT.

Sameer Dalamal is a partner at Cale Street Partners, a real estate investment and finance firm focused on the United Kingdom, Western Europe and North America. Since its inception in 2014, Cale Street has raised €7.6bn from a single sovereign wealth investor and has provided innovative structured debt and/or equity capital solutions to investors, operators and developers in ten countries across nearly every major real estate asset classes and in multiple currencies. Before joining Cale Street, Sameer spent 10 years at Och Ziff in London, where he was most recently the head of European commercial real estate credit. Prior to that Sameer was at Deutsche Bank in the European commercial real estate group for 6 years.

Stefan is a founding partner of 4 Friends Investment Group (4FI) and responsible for the general strategy, acquisition and structuring as well as member of the investment committee. 4FI is a privately held investment manager with a focus in the sectors health & lifestyle and real estate combining both platform and corporate investments. Through different subsidiaries 4FI has acquired real estate in continental Europe in excess of 700mn EUR and has invested into five different platforms. Prior to 4FI, Stefan founded ACREST Property Group, Germany’s largest non captive retail asset manager and worked for companies such as TishmanSpeyer or Tenkhoff Properties. He is an active member of ULI and ZIA.

Mr. Rossi graduated from the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan; he then obtained a Master degree in administration and control from the Milan Business School. He worked for a tax-consulting firm, then joined an international industrial group in Milan and subsequently became director of an advisory company specialized in hedge and long term investment funds. He has also been Member of the Board of some investment firms.

Travis Pritchett is President and Chief Operating Officer for Harbert Management Corporation (“HMC”), an investor in alternative investment strategies. Travis is a member of HMC’s senior management team with management responsibility for HMC’s global real assets group consisting of four platforms - European value add real estate, US value add real estate, US Seniors Housing, and Infrastructure. Travis received a BS from Davidson College and an MBA from the University of North Carolina.

Tyler is the Founder and CEO of Seaforth Land. He has over 30 years of international real estate experience across Asia, North America and the UK in property development, investment banking, principal investment, and investment management. He is a passionate and vocal proponent of good design, sustainability, diversity, and transparency in our industry. Tyler was ranked #35 in the “Estates Gazette 2014 Power List 50” as one of the 50 most influential people in the UK property industry.

For more then 25 years Will has been working in Real estate and Capital markets. At Morgan Stanley, LCF Rothschild, Astor Capital and Tolaxis. Will served on the boards of public companies, including companies listed on London Stock Exchange. Will has an MBA degree from UC Berkeley.

Yuri Babin is a Chief Investment Officer and Head of Capital Markets for Wainbridge International. Prior to that he was a Director of Strategic Partnerships at Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $40 billion sovereign wealth fund of the Russian Federation. Before that he spent more than 10 years as an investment banker in London with J.P.Morgan and Morgan Stanley. He holds Bachelor of Laws degree from Moscow State University, LL.M. from Cornell Law School, andMBA from Insead.