Blackstone has hired its head of Real Estate Americas Nadeem Meghji to succeed Ken Caplan as global co-head of real estate.
Meghji will execute the role alongside current global co-head Kathleen McCarthy.
This comes as Caplan and Blackstone’s European head of private equity Lionel Assant, are promoted to newly created roles of global co-chief investment officers (CIOs). In their new roles, Caplan and Assant will coordinate and oversee Blackstone’s investment process.
Assant joined Blackstone in 2003 and has run the firm’s European private equity business based in London since 2012, and will continue to serve in that capacity in addition to his new role. Caplan joined Blackstone in 1997, led the firm’s European real estate business from 2012-2015, served as real estate CIO from 2015-2017, and has co-headed the global real estate business alongside McCarthy since 2018. Meghji joined Blackstone Real Estate in 2008 and since 2017 has overseen the company’s real estate business in the Americas.
Blackstone notes the executives collectively bring more than 60 years of Blackstone investing experience to what is expected to be an extremely active deployment period.
Speaking at the Global Investment Summit held in London last year, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman said the company has over $200 billion of uninvested capital in the world which will be deployed in due course, adding “we’re seeing a good deal of volume of buying things in Europe because European real estate is under pressure.”
What they said
Steve Schwarzman, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Blackstone said: “We are delighted to elevate three of our longest-tenured investors into these critical positions, as the firm readies itself for an active investment period. They bring strong track records of delivering for our customers, considerable institutional knowledge, and exceptional investment acumen to these new roles.”
Jon Gray, president & COO of Blackstone added: “The promotion of these highly talented executives will help the firm better identify compelling global investment themes while also enhancing our disciplined investment process.”
Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head Real Estate added: “Ken is a remarkable leader who I have loved partnering with. We look forward to his continued impact on our business as Co-CIO of the firm. Nadeem is the perfect leader to succeed Ken, given his tremendous investment acumen and operational experience. I am excited to partner with him in the years ahead.”