Edmond de Rothschild REIM confirms its ambitions in the London office market
Edmond de Rothschild strengthens its European real estate investment management platform with the appointment of Derek Williams who joined the Group as Head of UK Commercial Fund Management on 14 September 2021. He will be responsible for developing a new strategy focused on London offices.
Derek Williams, a real estate and capital markets expert with 25 years of experience and track record will be responsible for the development of the commercial real estate offering, including a new strategy focused on London offices, a particularly attractive market segment in the post-Covid period and at the heart of Edmond de Rothschild REIM's investment convictions.
Prior to joining Edmond de Rothschild, Derek had worked since 2016 as Head of Investment Management, EMEA, Head of Capital, EMEA and Americas and Member of Investment Committee, at Global Student Accommodation (GSA), a leading global student accommodation manager. He previously spent 8 years at Russell Investments as Director and Asset Class Head - Real Estate and Chair of Real Estate Investment Committee before being appointed Managing Director, Private Markets and Member of Management Board at bfinance (2014-2016).
Derek worked as a Research Manager at Land Securities, the 5th largest Real Estate Investment Trust in the world, between 2001 and 2005. He began his career at MSCI as Investment Analyst/Research Manager. He graduated in 1996 from the Cass Business School, University of London with a MSc in Real Estate Investment. He later completed a 1 Year Corporate Finance Program at the London Business School in 2005.
Commenting on this new arrival, Pierre Jacquot, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild REIM, said, “We are delighted to welcome Derek Williams who brings 25 years’ transaction experience and strong capital market expertise. His in-depth knowledge of the residential and commercial property market will be valuable as we develop our European real estate investment management platform. We are confident in his ability to build a new offering focused on prime London office space.”
Arnaud Andrieu, deputy CEO of Edmond de Rothschild REIM, added, “The London Office market will offer attractive repositioning opportunities since prices have dropped in the region of 20% for the last 2 years due to a combination of Brexit and Covid’s impact on occupiers requirements. Benefiting from the impending recovery, the anticipated tenant flight to quality and consolidation trend of occupiers to improve work spaces environment with more flexibility and ESG responsibility, we foresee a good momentum from 2022 and onwards to take advantage of the downturn with a strategy that would focus on value-add and manage-to-core London office assets.”