(HOUSTON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, today announced a new structure for the firm’s investment management platform, a transformation that strengthens its ability to develop, acquire and operate best-in-class real estate assets globally in partnership with current and future institutional and retail investors. With $124.3 billion of assets under management, Hines is currently the second-largest real estate investment manager in North America and the fourth globally, according to Institutional Real Estate, Inc. Hines’ new structure will encourage more large investors to work directly with the firm in a variety of collaborative ways with the goals of achieving their objectives and simplifying the process.
The new investment management platform will be co-led by Global Chief Investment Officer David Steinbach and CEO of Capital Markets Chris Hughes. The platform is designed to support current and future investment products and meet the demands of the world’s most-savvy investors, who are increasingly taking a strategic approach to their investment manager relationships and looking for partners who can meet their needs across several dimensions with a focus on skillful and timely equity capital allocation, value creation advantages at the property level and cultural and strategic meetings of the minds.
“Our vertically integrated real estate service model has been honed and time-tested for the past six decades, and we are known as passionate, multi-sector property experts,” commented Hines President and CEO Jeffrey Hines. “Our Investment Management business, which began in ‘91, has grown steadily, as our business has grown, and now we are in the position to achieve more-meaningful scale for the largest and most-savvy investor partners as they consolidate their universe of managers. We are raising the bar on ourselves in terms of how we service investors.”
Hines has initiated 57 investment vehicles since 1991 and currently runs large core and value add funds in Europe, the private, non-listed Hines Global Income Trust and a number of significant separate accounts for large global investors. The firm is working proactively and collaboratively with current and future investors on new product offerings.
Joining Steinbach and Hughes are three new geographic Chief Investment Officers overseeing investment strategies in the Americas, Europe and Asia. These new CIOs—Alfonso Munk, Alex Knapp and Lee Timmins—will direct all institutional and retail investment vehicles in their geographies and will join the firm’s Investment Committee, making it a more-global decision-making body that can nimbly respond to the best real estate opportunities at any given moment around the world. The new CIOs are “board-level” positions with seats on the firm’s Executive Committee.
Alfonso Munk, who joins the firm from PGIM Real Estate, will oversee the Americas. He has more than 20 years of diverse experience in real estate investing activities in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. He brings a significant track record of achievement and a new set of key contacts to the firm and will be based in Hines’ Houston headquarters.
Hines veteran Alex Knapp assumes the new role of CIO Europe providing investors with more than 15 years’ experience in commercial and residential transactions across the risk spectrum. He has been a leader in developing new product lines and operational strategies for the firm and will be based in the firm’s London headquarters.
Lee Timmins, who has led the firm’s Eurasia Region from Moscow since 2014, has been appointed CIO of Asia. He provides investors with a 30-plus-year track record in acquiring and developing numerous property types including commercial office, retail, multifamily, industrial, residential and mixed-use land developments. He will soon be establishing a regional Hines Investment Management office in Asia where the firm is looking to significantly expand its real estate footprint and investor outreach.
All three new leaders will be supported by dedicated investment personnel and closely coordinate with expanded Hines capital markets teams around the world. Additionally, the firm’s global Investment Committee has further expanded and will be supported by the Hines Proprietary Research Group, a new Investment Risk team and a newly created Global Investment Strategy team to help shape investing strategy and provide analytical support to the CIOs, as well as the firm’s regional business units where deals are sourced and strategies are executed by experienced local teams.
“We see a market opportunity to create something new in the real estate space, connecting the dots of product innovation, future-proofing, on-the-ground market knowledge and global scale to be a disruptive force of change in the industry, explained David Steinbach. “Our expanded platform allows us to satisfy the needs of our investors who want to ‘go direct’ with larger, more-strategic relationships, led by real estate experts who are thinking well into the future and looking above the tree line. We believe our new platform positions Hines to be in the highest tier of investment managers.
“We are responding to market demands in a way no other real estate investor can,” added Chris Hughes. “Investors are taking note of the fundamental shifts in real estate at the product level and they value a partnership-driven firm with our track record, entrepreneurial approach and understanding of changing demand drivers, tenant requirements and the competition for talent. We are imbedded with global occupiers, and it is our goal to not just respond to their needs, but to anticipate them.”
Hines is the only privately held, global real estate investment and development management company with a sophisticated asset management platform and a proven strategy for value creation at the project level. The strengthened platform leverages an admirable investment track record and accentuates Hines’ strength as a vertically integrated real estate business. In recent years, Hines has grown its capabilities considerably, expanding its geographic footprint and continually innovating in office, retail/mixed-use, living/housing, and industrial/logistics. The firm’s robust investment pipeline is generated by regional business units with unmatched local expertise in key markets across 23 countries. With these expanded offerings, Hines is uniquely poised to service the needs of sophisticated global investors as local partners in nearly every major real estate market and sub-market.
About Alfonso Munk
Mr. Munk will join Hines on October 10 as CIO, Americas and will be responsible for developing the Americas investment strategy that is in line with the global views of the firm. He will be a member of the firm’s Executive and global Investment Committees. Munk brings more than 20 years of diverse experience in real estate investing activities in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Before joining the firm, he served as Managing Director, Americas, Chief Investment Officer and head of Latin America at PGIM Real Estate. While at PGIM, he was responsible for Americas transaction activities, U.S. real estate debt strategies and Latin American operations. Prior to that he was a managing director at Morgan Stanley Real Estate, where he held various roles in the U.S., Europe and South America for more than a decade.
Munk has a bachelor’s degree in business and hospitality administration from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in finance and real estate. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Exchange Council and serves on the Executive Committee of the Zell-Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School and the Advisory Board at the Center for Real Estate Finance at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business.
About Alex Knapp
Mr. Knapp was promoted to CIO, Europe in 2019, and is responsible for developing the European investment strategy and growing the platform. He is a member of the firm’s Executive and global Investment Committees. He joined Hines in 2008 and has led major transactions ranging across the risk spectrumin multiple product types. Most recently, he led Hines’ major expansion into living/housing sector on a pan-European basis. Prior to Hines, he spent five years at the Renzo Piano Building Workshop working in Paris and Genova, Italy. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University and a Masters in Real Estate Development from MIT.
About Lee Timmins
Promoted to CIO, Asia in 2019, Mr. Timmins is responsible for developing Hines’ Asia Pacific investment strategy in line with the global views of the firm. He is a member of the firm’s Executive and global Investment Committees. Since joining Hines in 1988, he has been instrumental in leading Hines’ start-up and growth in a number of international markets as well as establishing and deploying development and acquisition funds including the HCR Long Term Hold Fund, Hines India Fund, Hines India Residential Fund, Hines Poland Sustainable Income Fund, and the Hines Russia & Poland Fund.
Timmins’ past experience includes over 25 years managing and investing in international markets through his previous role as CEO of the Hines Eurasia Region. He has experience in developing and investing in office, residential, retail, and logistics projects across numerous Asian and European markets. Timmins received a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 219 cities in 23 countries. Hines has approximately $124.3 billion of assets under management, including $63.8 billion for which Hines provides fiduciary investment management services, and $60.5 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 148 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,362 properties, totaling over 449 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 514 properties, representing over 222 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
