GRI Club Global Summit: Boiling Point for Commercial Real Estate Volatility?

Ali Imraan serves as Head of European Real Estate Credit at KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts), a leading global investment firm. In this role, he oversees real estate credit strategies across European markets, leveraging extensive expertise in commercial real estate financing and debt markets. Imraan brings significant experience in structuring and executing complex real estate transactions, with a focus on optimizing risk-adjusted returns for institutional investors. His leadership encompasses portfolio management, credit analysis, and strategic business development within KKR's real estate platform, contributing to the firm's growth in European real estate debt markets.

Hal Shaw is a Partner at KSL Capital Partners where he serves as Head of European Capital Solutions and is based out of London. Hal joined KSL in 2007 as a Summer Associate with the Private Equity Team. During his time at KSL, Hal has invested across the capital structure ranging from senior and mezzanine debt originations to acquisitions and has played a lead role in the formation and subsequent growth of KSL’s Capital Solutions strategies. Hal is a member of KSL’s Equity Investment Committee, Credit Investment Committee and Tactical Opportunities Investment Committee.

Mr. Piper is a Partner, Co-Head of Europe and member of TPG Real Estate’s Investment Committee, based in London. Prior to joining TPG, he was a Partner in the Real Estate Group at Ares Management, where he spent 12 years, before which he was a member of the European Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Credit Suisse. He received a Masters degree in Physics from the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with First Class Honours. He is also a trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Royal Trinity Hospice, a charity providing care and support for those with life-limiting conditions in London.

Jay Kwan joined QuadReal as Managing Director, Head of Europe in February 2018. His focus is on building the international portfolio, with an emphasis on investing in Global Cities in the U.K. and Europe. Jay was formerly an MD at TPG Real Estate, the real estate investment group of private equity firm TPG, specifically focused on European investments. Prior to joining TPG in 2016, Jay was a Partner at Grove International Partners (formerly Soros Real Estate Partners), where he spent 13 years investing in three continents across all asset classes at both the corporate and asset level. Jay began his career at Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners in New York in 2001. Jay graduated with a BA in Economics and Political Science from Columbia NY

Karim Habra is responsible for Ivanhoe Cambridge European platform and its future growth. He oversees all the company’s real estate operations in Europe including its development activities. Karim Habra began his career with GE Real Estate in 1998 and was given responsibility for its Central European operations in 2003, before joining JER Partners in 2008 as Managing Director, European Funds. In 2012, he joined LaSalle Investment Management as Managing Director of Central Europe before serving successively as Managing Director of France, then Head of Continental Europe.

Lorcain Egan serves as Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate Private Credit at Starwood Capital Group. In this role, Mr. Egan oversees Starwood’s commercial real estate debt investment activities. Since joining the firm in 2013, he has played a key role expanding the firm’s global lending footprint. Mr Egan previously worked in the Capital Markets team, where he arranged financing for equity investments in Europe and Asia. He is a member of Starwood Capital’s Investment Committee and Starwood Property Trust’s Investment Committee (NYSE: STWD). Prior to joining Starwood, Mr. Egan was a Vice President at Barclays Bank in London, where he specialized in real estate lending. Earlier in his career, he held roles at Barclays and Allied Irish Bank, working across a range of asset-based lending and corporate finance areas. Mr. Egan holds a degree in Law and Economics from the University of Ulster.

Michael has over 27 years of experience in real estate private equity, having worked in Europe, Asia and the U.S. He started as one of the initiating members of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds in Europe, out of London and NYC. He was then a Founding Partner of Soros Real Estate (later Grove), building up the firm’s business in Asia with close to $2.0bn in equity invested across a variety of asset classes. He is now responsible for Quilvest funds that invest in the EMEA region and a member of the firm's global Investment Committee. Michael sits at the boards of numerous investee companies. He also sits at the board of the Hellenic Public Properties Company, the largest company for management and development of public assets in Greece.

Mr. Bashir joined the firm in 2020 and is Chief Executive Officer of Europe. In this role Mr. Bashir leads the expansion of Harrison Street’s European strategies and he is also responsible for overseeing and growing the firm’s team of professionals across the U.K. and Europe. Mr. Bashir brings over 20 years of experience in private equity real estate, operations and corporate finance to Harrison Street. Prior to joining Harrison Street, Mr. Bashir was most recently President and Chief Operating Officer at Round Hill Capital, a real estate investment and asset management firm with a global footprint. While at Round Hill Capital, he managed a business with an $8+ billion portfolio as well as a team of 260 people across 15 offices.

Steve Plavin was appointed to the Board of Directors of Cushman & Wakefield in 2025. He currently serves as Non-Executive Chairman. Mr. Plavin has led a distinguished 40-year career in commercial real estate. Most recently he served as Head of Europe for Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, and prior to that, served as CEO of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. Prior to his tenure at Blackstone, Mr. Plavin held the position of CEO at Capital Trust, Inc. and CT Investment Management Co., LLC. Mr. Plavin also served as Global Co-Head of Commercial Real Estate Finance and Banking at Chase Bank and Chase Securities Inc. He has extensive experience on public company boards, including BXMT, CT, Omega Healthcare Investors, and as Non-Executive Chairman of WCI Communities, Inc. Mr. Plavin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Tal Peri is a senior real estate investment and finance professional with over 20 years of industry experience across markets and product types. Tal has closed more than $5 billion of real estate transactions. He serves as Head of U.S. East Coast and Latin America for Union Investment Real Estate in their New York office with the primary responsibility of overseeing equity investment activities in these regions. Union Investment is the largest open-ended real estate fund in Germany with a global real estate AUM of $55 billion and a US AUM of $6 billion. Prior to this role, Tal was an Associate Director at WestLB, New York, where he was responsible for real estate acquisition and development finance transactions.

Has over 12 years of real estate investment experience. David was previously Head of the Real Estate practice at Helios Capital, a London-based family office, and, prior to that, a senior member of the investment team at Moor Park Capital Partners. He has an extensive track record in real estate, having been involved in £2bn+ real estate transactions since the start of his career, both in equity and debt positions. David holds an MA from HEC Lausanne, HEC Paris and La Sorbonne University. He speaks French and English and is a Swiss and French citizen.

As Head of Divestments at Skanska’s commercial development unit in CEE, Adrian is responsible for sourcing buyers and conducting transaction processes in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. While working at Skanska, Adrian has divested over 40 office buildings totaling almost EUR 2 bn. He has also expanded Skanska’s clients portfolio by 15 new buyers. Moreover, Adrian was involved in the sales process of Skanska’s asset in London and Helsinki. Adrian started his professional career in 1997 at Gerald Eve International. He went on to work for Knight Frank and GE Capital Golub Real Estate. Prior to joining Skanska in 2013, he worked for Echo Investment as the director responsible for the company’s asset divestments. Adrian is also coordinating the Skanska cross-border transaction team (CEE, US, and Nordics).

Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager, Oaktree Capital Mr. Bianchi is a managing director and Head of Europe for Oaktree’s Real Estate group. Mr. Bianchi joined Oaktree in 2014 and has been involved in the investment and management of its real estate funds in the United States and Europe throughout his time at the firm. Prior to joining Oaktree, Mr. Bianchi worked for Deutsche Bank AG where he held senior positions in the firm’s London, Hong Kong and New York-based real estate divisions. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Bianchi was employed by Moore Capital's MSVP Japan where he served as a senior vice president. He began his career as an associate in Goldman Sachs's Archon Group in the U.S. and Asia.

Christof Altendorfer joined CA Immo in September 2019 as Head of Investment Management Germany and was also appointed to the management of CA Immo Deutschland GmbH. In this function, he is responsible for all CA Immo real estate transactions in Germany and is particularly responsible for the development and expansion of the portfolio in the core German markets of Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Before joining CA Immo, Christof Altendorfer worked as a portfolio manager at Norges Bank Real Estate Management (NBREM) in London. He was responsible for the development and management of a high-quality real estate portfolio worth a total of around two billion euros.

Giovanna brings over 15 years’ experience working in business development and sustainability to IWBI. Her career started with advising FTSE 500 companies on CSR strategies and reporting before most recently becoming Global Business Development Director of her own consultancy supporting clients in leading market penetration, incorporating ESG solutions, and driving business growth. Giovanna has an extensive understanding of industry and reporting requirements, having worked closely with organizations around the world to map strategic objectives to leading frameworks including GRI, SASB, CDP and the UN SDGs. In 2020, Giovanna’s leadership was recognized when she was named one of the 10 Most Influential Women in Tech.

Michael Shields joined ING in May 2004 and has 25 years experience in real estate lending, asset management & restructuring. Based in London, he is currently responsible for ING REF’s EMEA lending platform – lending assets totalling over €18bn. He is also international head for Real Estate, looking after clients with a global real estate reach. Prior to his current role, he led ING REF’s highly successful U.S. lending platform which he helped grow from $200m to over $7.5bn at its peak in 2008. Before ING, Michael was an originator in BHF Capital’s U.S real estate lending team and was one of the original members of Helaba’s CRE finance team in the U.S. Michael started his banking career in Chemical Bank’s real estate group in Manhattan.

At J P Morgan Asset Management I work within the real estate team where I focus on European strategy and portfolio management.

Tim Wilkinson is driving the European expansion strategy of the Indotek Group, a value-add private fund currently with over Eur 2 bln AUM. Tim is responsible for sourcing and acquiring opportunistic investments across 13 European countries, with a focus on direct assets and/or real estate companies that need new capital to unlock un-realised potential. Previously he spent over 20 years with a focus on the emerging markets of Central & South East Europe, most recently as the Head of Capital Markets and equity partner with the Romanian affiliate of Cushman & Wakefield. Tim is a graduate of Nottingham Trent University and a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.