Global buyout giant KKR has hired Ian Williamson from BlackRock as managing director and head of core plus real estate in Europe, to oversee the formation and lead KKR Real Estate’s pan-European core plus focused strategy.
The strategy focuses on investing behind high quality and substantially stabilized assets with long-term growth potential.
Williamson was portfolio manager at BlackRock. He oversaw a €550m fundraise for BlackRock Eurozone Core Property Fund and developed the fund’s investment strategy. He was previously a regional director and fund manager at LaSalle Investment Management where he had primary responsibility for the €1.36bn LaSalle Encore+ Fund.
Guillaume Cassou, partner and head of real estate in Europe at KKR said, “Ian brings an impressive track record in the European real estate sector and we’re delighted to welcome him to our expanding business. This appointment reinforces our commitment to investors to continue evolving and growing the European platform in order to build a high performing and diverse portfolio of investments.”
KKR closed Real Estate Partners Europe II on $2.2bn in June. The vehicle focuses on value-add and opportunistic real estate investments in Western Europe. It has already committed more than $870m across logistics and residential investment opportunities.
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