Qualitas beefs up direct investment capability
Real estate investment management specialist firm, Qualitas has announced an expansion of its direct real investment capability with the appointment of experienced James Kaufman as executive director in the principal Investments team.
The company said Kaufman had joined Qualitas from global real estate firm JLL, where he was a senior member in the capital markets group, supervising transactions totalling in excess of $4 billion.
It said that in his new role, Kaufman would lead the firm’s expansion and increase focus on the ‘value-add’ sector of the market: acquiring existing assets with the potential to add value through active management, refurbishment or change of use.
Commenting on the appointment, Qualitas managing director, Principal Investments, Mark Fischer said the value-add space was a natural fit for the firm, and its existing activity in the value-add space would be accelerated by the appointment.
“We have an extensive, successful track record at the opportunistic end of the risk spectrum and have made numerous value-add investments that have been well supported by our investors,” he said.
“Many of our existing investors are asking us to increase our value-add activity as they like that it offers a higher return than core assets, but with a medium level of risk. It’s an effective way to diversify their portfolio risk.”
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