Managing Director Benelux – Catella

Catella Investment Management Benelux (CIMB) is part of the Catella Group, an independent financial advisor, fund and asset manager with approximately 550 employees in 14 countries. CIMB’s parent company Catella AB is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm in the midcap segment. CIMB manages institutional capital from pension funds, insurance companies, banks and family offices which it places in real estate assets throughout the Benelux, so that in future for instance pensions can be paid out to citizens.

Next to that CIMB also actively participates in the initiation of new funds such as the Catella Dutch Residential Fund II and the Catella European Residential Fund III. Over the past three years, CIMB has grown significantly to approximately € 1.9 billion AuM. About 75% of our investment portfolio consists of residential property for several target groups (basic residential, student housing, senior living), the remainder consists of commercial real estate in offices and retail.

CIMB is a proud member of the Association of Institutional Investors in Real Estate, the Netherlands (IVBN).

CIMBs has a statutory Board with: Xavier Jongen (Managing Director), Timo Nurminen (Head of Property Investment Management) and Jyrki Konsala (Managing Director Cross-border investments). The daily management of the company is done by the Management Team: Xavier Jongen, Ronnie Holtslag (responsible for both Acquisition & Asset Management) and Julia Strijp-Mulder (responsible for Operations)

Next to focusing on core residential real estate, CIMB operates in innovative niche markets. For example, together with Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) – also a 100% daughter of the Catella Group and the main representor of the largest cross-border residential property investment platform in Europe with a total AuM of approximately € 4.4 billion – CIMB participates in an Alliance. This Alliance is a setup of Catella and non-Catella companies specialized in residential acquisitions and asset management in 11 countries.

Investment Strategies
Catella was one of the first investment managers to drive residential’s emergence as a major cross-border asset class and our geographic spread and the diversity of our portfolios are unmatched in Europe. We invest in both existing and emerging segments of the residential market including apartments, student and senior housing, serviced apartments and new forms of micro living.

In addition to our series of pan-European funds, we also offer regionally-focused vehicles and country-specific mandates.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policy is embedded in our assessment of risks and opportunities in real estate investment and management, and the expertise and skills of the people in our organisation are key to helping us achieve our objectives.

Job Profile (headlines):

• The key role is to act as a sole leader of the CIMB and to focus on managerial operations, key recruitments, and teambuilding to enable CIMB to strengthen its resources to grow its business with existing internal fund clients and to expand the business to external investors/clients.
• Leadership skills and Investment competence and experience are critical requirements.
• He/she will be working in close cooperation with the Catella’s Berlin (CRIM) and Munich (CREAG) fund organisations.
• He/she will support CRIM & CREAG in sourcing and attracting new fund investors to their funds. Fund companies have the main responsibility for their capital raising.
• He/she will develop and execute a growth strategy to increase internal and external AuM. Especially expansion to external clients in commercial properties is a key target. The target for new business amounts to minimum € 500 Mio AuM that the candidate should generate over a 3-5 years’ time frame.
• The new MD should have on top of the leadership experience a strong investment/transaction and asset management experience in both residential and commercial properties and across the Benelux region.

Reporting lines and competence
The new Managing Director of CIMB is reporting to Head of Investment Management (IM) business area, Mr Timo Nurminen, who has responsibility for Catella’s property funds and asset management services. In total IM has an AuM of € 12,5 Bn with operations in nine countries cross Europe.

It is expected that the Managing Director of CIMB will source, analyse, negotiate, lead due diligence teams and successfully close-out transactions (together with CIMB team) and on-board assets on behalf of Catella’s real estate funds active in the Benelux market as well as new external clients. He or she will require a specialisation in acquisition processes. Additionally, the MD needs to have a good knowledge of residential market and broadly of key commercial investment segments like office, logistic, retail, and general knowledge of healthcare, life science, hotels, data centres etc.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The successful candidate should already have 10+ years’ first-hand experience in real estate investment, portfolio management and acquisitions (commercial and residential) at least in the Netherlands but preferably cross Benelux and be able to demonstrate a strong track-record also in fund management organisation. Additional experience in another continental European market would be an advantage. The Catella Investment Management Benelux – Managing Director Benelux Page 3/3 candidate is likely to have been responsible for acquiring real estate for institutional core or core-plus funds or value-add. He/she should have an established network of contacts in the business in relevant markets. The successful candidate will be a senior professional, innovative, and confident individual who is commercially minded, proactive, and driven by results. The candidate will be motivated by the opportunity to take an important role in the growth of Catella’s fund and asset management business. The individual should be analytical and highly numerate, with an eye for detail and a good understanding of real estate markets. Strong understanding of asset management initiatives and how they can create added value for an investor, including brown and green field (re) developments and other decarb (brown-to-green) actions, with a proven ability to identify and budget such asset management initiatives. With a strong awareness of what drives Catella’s future investment performance, the candidate will need to show a good understanding of asset management issues and the needs of tenants. As Catella’s funds mature, they shall also expect from CIMB a leading role in the sales process and negotiation for asset disposals.

Interpersonal
Ability to build successful relationships with CRIM and CREAG and new stakeholders, to drive better business performance.
Must be self-directed with strong integrity and independent with the ability to effectively manage competing priorities and thrive under pressure. Strong leadership skills to build, engage and develop the teams to high performance. Able to bring creativity and passion to CIMB organisation and its services, while embracing change and innovation. High level of efficiency and sense of urgency.

Requirements
The candidate should ideally be a university graduate in a relevant field.
Minimum of 10-15 years of relevant work experience.
Managerial experience and leadership.
Business network in the Benelux region.
Flawless communication in Dutch and English (both in writing and speaking) French is a strong asset due
to the Brussels, Walloon and Luxemburg exposures. Knowledge of German is an added value.

Catella Investment Management Benelux is the sponsoring/initiating entity so that 1-2 days a week at the
Benelux Head Quarter in Maastricht are necessary. A Hub office is in place in or near Amsterdam.

PROCEDURE & INFORMATION

Catella has requested Escalier Executive Search to recruit a new Managing Director. As a Consultant Managing Partner Jacques Craenen (+31 6 463 77 820 / craenen@escalier.nl) is the first contact person for the procedure or in his absence Christine van der Werf, Research Support at the Dutch office +31 35 694 29 67.

This job description is not exhaustive; the role is expected to evolve and change over time, as the business grows and develops, within reason of
the original remit.