Landmark appoints ex-DTZ exec to expand Euro platform

Landmark Partners has appointed former DTZ Investment Management executive Paul Parker to spearhead the expansion of its European secondary and funds of funds operations.

Parker was previously head of DTZ’s multi-manager and fund of funds business launching the firm’s first real estate fund of funds, Aurora Europe, for institutional investors. Parker has joined Simsbury, Connecticut-based Landmark as managing director and will be based in London.

Gary Stevens, partner and head of Landmark’s real estate arm, said the private equity real estate secondaries market had grown significantly over the past few years with investments increasingly being made in “non-US markets.

“Paul’s experience will enable us to access both local market intelligence and wider coverage of the European real estate markets,” he added.

Parker said pricing adjustments in the UK and European markets would present “valuable opportunities” over the coming months and years, adding that the industry was facing a market in which “investors want their fund managers to have the knowledge and track record to be able to identify strong property fundamentals when contemplating acquisitions.”

Landmark, founded in 1989, only invested in private equity until 1996 when it branched out into real estate secondaries. It now has more than $6 billion in capital commitments – a fifth of that in real estate secondary programs – and has transferred more than 1,100 limited partnership interests in funds managed by more than 400 GPs.