Listening to what your head-hunter has to offer is crucial otherwise you may miss out on a life changing opportunity. Irrespective of how secure you may think your career is, according to the fulfilment index, the frequencies of management transitions are ever more increasing. Therefore it favourable on side to take the call and see where the call may lead you and also listen to the head-hunters advice as it might even surprise you!

Generally, head-hunters will only provide you with their name and the firm they are calling from. Therefore it may be useful to give them a few minutes to let them explain the purpose for calling, as it may not be initially apparent.

One the purpose of the call becomes clear, try to identify whether you are a potential candidate search; if so, be completely honest about yourself and your current job and you compensation package. Don’t be shy to tell them what you current package is and what you think is attractive enough to change jobs. If you want to or are keen to relocate, then make this clear. Similarly, if your personal circumstances do not allow you to relocate, be open about that too.

Don’t be put off if head-hunters are unable to reveal the company they are hiring on behalf of. Many of their clients simply do not give permission to identify them as the hiring company until much later in the search process and then only a handful of ‘shortlisted’ candidates will be told.

Overall, if you have the right profile head-hunters are looking for, you can rest assured that they will take you seriously and be committed to you.

Source: Bloomberg 24/01/2012

The $15 billion pension fund based in America has promoted Lindsey Adams from a security analyst to the position of a Senior Portfolio Manager of Real Estate. Adam has been with the company for over three years. Previously, she was working at AMB Property as a vice president and portfolio manager.

According to officials, this role has been available since December 2009, when Donald Holcher, the previous head of real estate was promoted to the position of a head of head of private markets. Following this, Holcher retired by the end of 2010.

The promotion of Adams has initiated SFERS retirement board to be restructured and reorganised allowing for enhanced management of the alternatives program and the increasing number of manager relationships.

SFERS have invested $1.4 billion into real estate which is approximately 10 percent of their total assets. One of Admas task is to grow the plan’s commitment to real estate.

Source: PERE 19/01/2011

The French firm raised the equity commitments largely from pensions funds and insurance firms. The fund is formed from; pensions (54 percent), insurance companies (24 percent), sovereign wealth funds (14 percent) and funds of funds (8 percent). This European fund will offer opportunistic-like returns to investors. The fund is aimed towards investing green and brownfield sites and properties requiring extensive redevelopment. Three prime office development projects and one in London are included in the DVIII.

The senior fund manager of DVIII, Denis Morel claims to have a number of exciting and top profile projects on board including Coface headquarters in Paris and some in London.

Around two thirds of the new commitments aroused from former Axa investors of development funds, the highest being €405 million. The previous development funds from Axa have generated a gross annual internal rate of return of over 40 percent.

Source: PERE 10/01/2012

Starwood Capital Group has held its first closing for the ninth global real estate fund and has raised $1.2 billion of equity in just four months. They have also suggested offering management fee breaks for the first time to institutional investors and those investors committing a more generous fund of $150m and over. The first closing was held in December 2011, the interim expected to be early 2012 and the final closing is likely to be by summer 2012.

Starwood is imitating an industry trend by offering fee breaks to investors. This acts as an incentive to attract investors and trigger fundraising activities as previously done by The Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group. The Blackstone Group slashed its management fee for certain investors during the first close of the Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, which targeted $10 billion of equity in August 2011.

Starwood’s Fund IX will primarily focus on the US distressed opportunities; however 20 to 30 percent of investment will be in Europe and 10 percent in emerging markets.

Over the past 20 years Starwood has averaged over 30 percent gross IRRs on its funds, as well as taking away three Global PERE Awards last year.

Source: PERE 06/01/2012

The firm, who are focused in Europe, have bought the largest stake in a six-strong portfolio of logistics parks in Czech Republic costing approximately €135 million. These are situated in the northern, eastern and western regions of the country and are now fully occupied.

Tristan revealed that they bought the properties from developers for Curzon Capital Partners. Up till October, the fund had occupied €300 million from investors and is predicted to sustain to final balance of €500 million equity for the vehicle.

Source: PERE 09/11/2011

Johnson previously worked at The Blackstone Group in Asia where he was dedicated to growing their real estate coverage in China.  He will now be the managing director and head of global business development for China real estate. Johnson will report to O’Brien, the head of real estate assets client relations and strategy in Hong Kong. = this doesn’t make sense in English..?

O’Brien states that Johnson has immense experience and understanding of China’s demographic, which will be of great benefit to JP Morgan.

Source: PERE 05/12/2011

The €600 million in equity commitments has exceeded the initial target for their AltaFund project. This is one of the prime office property funds in Paris, and is the largest fund by an operating company.

It is thought that the precise intended return was not made known to the public, the investors expect a blended mid-teen return.

The overall aim is to create a portfolio valued at 1.2 billion, in order to react to the scarcity of high quality new properties and increasing demand of current properties in Paris.

Source: PERE 30/11/2011

Kiran decided to leave AXA REIM as he wanted to look for new opportunities. He is due to leave at the end of 2011.

During the announcement, AXA REIM stated that Patel’s contributions to growing the asset base and clientele was phenomenal, especially since the industry was so affected by the economic crisis and subject to constant change. Patel’s contributions have not been overlooked particularly since he was responsible for creating and enhancing real estate strategies which brought much success. The chief executive, Pierre Vaquier, was deeply appreciative of Patel for his efforts, as AXA REIM manages 40 billion Euros of real estate assets worldwide.

Patel summed up by stating that he has reached a point in his career where he needs to take time out to reflect and pursue new challenges.

Source: PERE 22/11/2011

The asset management firm based in London bought the 118,403 square foot Galerie des Ailes shopping centre in the suburb of Paris and the Real Hypermarket and Gallery in Dreieich, in Germany. This was as part of its 930 million Euros Henderson European Retail Property Fund (HERALD). Galerie des Ailes is situated in prime location near the A1 motorway which links Paris to Charles de Gaulle Airport. It is currently 90% occupied by leading multinational tenants, such as Sports Direct.

David Turner, Fund manager for HERALD states that investment decision to acquire the prime shopping centre in France was made as returns look very attractive in the near future. Whereas the German retail warehouse needs a complete refurbishment but shows a promising secure and healthy long term income.

In late 2005, when HERALD began, it was primarily intended to obtain shopping centres, retail warehouses and city centre retail properties. This lead to an equity of more than 700 million Euros, this now only focuses on European countries- mainly Spain, France and Germany.

Source: PERE 14/11/2011

This indicates a significant turning point as the injected capital is the first time an overseas bank has been given permission to use Yuan. Also, the unit in China is the first unit in Asia Pacific for HSBC, and growing this will allow easier cross boarder investments and trade.

Unfortunately this investment was only possible after HSBC laid off hundreds of investment bankers from top cities such as London and Hong Kong, as well as others, in order to save billions of dollars for the investment into China.

Source: Reuters 11/11/2011