The Indian arm of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the global real estate consultancy giant, has poached two top real estate fund managers from another global financial major, Credit Suisse, to strengthen CBRE’s capital market offerings in India that could eventually lead to managing investors’ money also.
Gaurav Kumar and Nikhil Bhatia, who five years ago set up and then till recently managed Credit Suisse’s real estate private equity fund in India, have been appointed as co-heads of CBRE’s capital markets division.
Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & Managing Director, CBRE, South Asia, has confirmed it saying that Kumar and Bhatia have expertise in those areas which compliments the existing businesses of the firm in India. “It’s a rare combination. They have expertise in structured deals, developing businesses, asset management and divesting properties,” Magazine said. “In India, we will be only (real estate consulting) company with capital market business,” he said.
For both Kumar and Bhatia this is a kind of homecoming. Before quitting CBRE in 2006, while Kumar was the head of its consulting practice, Bhatia headed the transactions business out of Mumbai.
In February, the US-headquartered CB Richard Ellis group acquired Dutch financial major ING’s real estate fund management business for Europe and Asia regions. Currently, CB Richard Ellis Investors, the group’s global investment management business, manages over $60 billion worth of funds in the real estate sector.
