Tullett Prebon hires head of real estate secondaries

The appointment of Michael McKell in a newly-created position comes at a time when buyers are increasingly interested in real estate secondaries.

Tullett Prebon Alternative Investments, the alternative arm of interdealer broker Tullett Prebon, has hired Michael McKell as head of real estate secondaries to trade open-ended and specialist real estate funds, according to a statement.

This is a newly-created position, which allows TP-AIME, the recently launched screen-based matching engine of the firm, to extend its offering to include unlisted real estate funds.

McKell started in December to build the desk and said that the firm has already closed on a number of UK and European transactions.

He comes from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he focused on the secondary market advisory and brokerage for unlisted real estate funds.

“We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in interest on the buyside for real estate funds, in the UK, continental Europe and expanding into Asia and the US,” said McKell. “It’s a great time for sellers to secure liquidity whilst demand and pricing remains strong.”

McKell added that they’re seeing interest from a wider group of institutional investors ranging from pension funds to dedicated real estate secondaries firms.