Ralf Kind to set up real estate debt funds at Edmond de Rothschild
Edmond de Rothschild has strengthened its European real estate investment management platform with the appointment of Ralf Kind as Head of Real Estate Debt on 01 October 2019.
Ralf Kind (48), a real estate and capital markets expert with more than two decades of experience and track-record in real estate finance, will be responsible for the development of the Edmond de Rothschild's real estate debt business.
In his previous position Ralf Kind was CEO/CFO of DEMIRE Deutsche Mittelstand Real Estate AG and CEO of Fair Value REIT AG, both listed German commercial property companies. In 2013, he founded Arbireo Capital AG, an investment manager and advisory firm in the German real estate market. Prior to that, he spent 12 years at Barclays Capital, in Frankfurt and London, where he worked in the Structured Finance Team and later led the Real Estate Investment Banking Team in the DACH region. Ralf started his career at PwC in Tokyo in 1998.
Christophe Caspar, Global Head of Asset Management at Edmond de Rothschild Group: "There is a compelling market opportunity for private real estate debt in Europe. Traditional lenders are reducing their exposure to real estate, whilst borrowers are seeking flexible and reliable capital providers who can provide solutions in a competitive market. We are seeing a strong interest in debt strategies from investors around the world."
In 2020, the focus will be put on higher-yielding approaches with a pan-European origination strategy. This will enable borrowers to source the entire financing from a single source in an efficient manner. Over time the debt offering will be expanded with a more conservative senior debt strategy to provide investors full optionality and to replicate the highly successful Edmond de Rothschild infrastructure debt platform with currently €2.6bn of AUM.
Rodney Bysh, CEO of Cording Real Estate Group: "This 'one-stop-shopping' approach and our focus on higher-yielding loans mean that we are plugging a gap in the market, for borrowers and investors alike. The expertise and network of the Edmond de Rothschild real estate investment management pan-European platform is a key advantage for the sourcing of deals as well as the underwriting.”