US bank Citi plans to sell its global property investment management business. It has asked Roger Orf, global head of Citi Property Investors, to lead the sale.
The move is another in the giant bank’s post-credit crunch restructuring. This includes the sale of parts of its private equity businesses, which operate under Citi Alternative Investments.
Orf, a well-known name in property private equity, was managing 145 staff and $13.5bn (£6.9bn) of assets when he stepped up to global head of CPI last June, taking over from Joe Azrack. Since then, however, CPI has begun running down its Asia private equity real estate business. Its head – David Schaefer – and uncommitted capital was returned to investors.
Most of CPI’s investments in Europe are in direct assets and stakes in private or listed companies. In March, Orf bought into Atrium European Real Estate, the Austrian property company formerly called Meinl Land.
In a separate deal, Citi Alternative Investments this week sold its global real estate securities business to Forum Partners for an undisclosed sum. The deal is a coup for seven-year-old Forum Partners, which will create a company, Forum Securities, alongside its existing property private equity business.
Forum Partners’ chief executive is Russell Platt, who used to head Morgan Stanley’s real estate securities as well as Morgan Stanley Special Situations, and has known the head of the Citi team – Daniel Pine – for 15 years.
Forum is acquiring Pine’s 13-strong team, part of Citi Alternative Investments. They look after 15 pooled funds and separate mandates with $450m of funds under management. Clients include the Pinnacle Global Real Estate Securities fund run for Canadian Scotiabank.
The business is based in Greenwich in the US and it has offices in Toronto, Hong Kong and London.
London-based Forum Partners has raised $2bn of capital in three European and two Asian property funds. The firm recently took on former JP Morgan property banker Richard Cotton.
