Knight Frank has appointed Charlie Barke as head of its UK capital markets division.
Barke has worked at Knight Frank for more than eight years as a partner, in roles including head of retail capital markets and head of shopping centre investment.
Before that, he worked at Cushman & Wakefield for 16 years, where he led the retail investment team.
In his new role, Barke will develop the offering, which has grown to include sector specialist teams such as data centres, life sciences, supermarkets and capital advisory.
Knight Frank said its capital markets offer will seek to take advantage of significant growth in those emerging sectors, as well as film studios.
One of its biggest focuses will be on the living sectors, including build-to-rent, co-living, student, senior living and hotels.
Barke said he will also continue his day-to-day involvement in retail investment, adding: “With rents and values now properly re-based, the retail market looks set for better times.
“My experiences on drawing teams together to work on asset repositioning will be key. We’ve already achieved excellent results combining retail and residential expertise, such as our recent sale of West 12 Shopping Centre for LandSec. We are now focusing on the re-positioning opportunities within other sectors and we can use our experiences from the retail sector to assist our clients in these areas.
“Working in retail over the past decade has taught me a huge amount – primarily to ensure that your client always receives an exceptional client experience, regardless of the challenges the market throws at you. I look forward to driving our broad offering forwards in what we all hope will be an improving market.”
Barke replaces Richard Claxton, who has been head of UK capital markets for around six years. He has been with the agent since 1995. Claxton will remain on the commercial board as sub-divisional head of capital markets.
Claxton said: “Charlie is an outstanding operator with a market leading reputation within the capital markets arena, having a detailed knowledge of our client requirements and unique partnership culture. Charlie will without a doubt drive our business forward as we navigate an ever-changing market.
“The last 12 months have been complex for capital markets, however our teams have performed admirably, particularly industrial. The absolute key for our clients is our unique access to global private wealth. Our dedicated team tracks this investment of capital, and you simply cannot effectively sell an asset without knowing this group of buyers.
“Positively, we expect to see more stock after Easter and with the Bank of England now giving a clear sentiment that rate cuts are “on their way’ we expect activity to increase.”
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