The Firm
The firm is a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products with offices across the Globe. The European real estate business was established four years ago to focus on core – value-added commercial real estate investment opportunities across Europe, with a focus on the largest and most liquid Western European markets and primarily targeting assets with a strong running yield and upside potential. The business plans to expand across asset classes and geographies throughout continental Europe.
The Position
The platform is seeking an Associate to join the asset management team of its European real estate business. The role will report to the Head of Asset Management for European real estate and will represent the second hire into the European real estate team to be focused primarily on asset management. The candidate will work in a lean team with frequent interactions between acquisitions and asset management and requires a self-starting candidate with excellent organisational and communication skills. The overall goal of the role will be to maximise the performance of each asset and portfolio from acquisition to final exit and to deliver timely and accurate performance reporting to various stakeholders. A key aspect of the role will be to act in an intermediary capacity between various stakeholders and service providers.
Key Responsibilities
- Oversee the operating partners who perform the day-to-day management of the assets
- Identify opportunities to add value to the assets
- Set up new processes and optimise existing ones
- Set up and periodically review asset management reports that are delivered by the operating partners
- Work with the operating partners to develop detailed annual operating budgets of the assets
- Track the performance of the assets and portfolios against budget and original underwriting
- Review the underwriting of new investments by the acquisitions team and help manage the handover of investments from the acquisitions to the asset management team after closing
- Support any sales processes and refinancing processes
- Run financial models to re-forecast the performance of the assets and portfolios, to support hold/sell decisions, refinancing decisions etc
- Support commercial decision-making (e.g. on new lettings, lease extensions or capex)
- Review new leases, lease amendments and lease appraisals
- Review/draft reports to lenders, covenant tests etc
- Review financial reports/accounts of the SPVs that own the assets
- Engage with third party advisors on legal, tax and accounting related matters
- Interact with third party corporate service providers/domiciliation agents to help with practical matters such as bank account management, invoice approvals etc.
- Interact with the U.S. real estate team to co-ordinate processes, apply best practices etc
- Relatively frequent travel required to inspect existing assets and new acquisitions
Experience and Qualifications
- Circa 3-5 year’s work experience gained in a demanding environment such as an investment bank, accounting firm or real estate private equity business
- BA-level degree or equivalent from a leading university, ideally in finance, economics or real estate
- Extensive previous experience of modelling with Excel is essential
- Prior real estate experience is desirable
- Some knowledge of financial accounting is desirable
- Excellent writing, communication and presentation skills
- Fluency in German is an added bonus (not essential) but business fluency in English is essential