CRE Brokerage -> MF REPE

Made a post about CRE brokerage exit opps the other day but didn’t get any responses outside of an angry LeMickey fan.

For those of you in larger REPE firms, how typical is it for them to recruit people from a CRE brokerage (CBRE, JLL, WD, Berkadia, Newmark) background?

Do BX, APO, or Brookfield primarily hire people from IB backgrounds for their CRE divisions or is it more diverse since it’s not standard PE?

There’s a couple top 20 PERE firms and a couple more top 50 PERE firms in Chicago I’m interested in but curious how competitive a background from CRE capital markets is.

I’ve had interest from boutique REPEs but I’m trying to gauge the chance of joining a MF or MM firm.

I should also note I’m talking about an analyst to associate move, no MBA.

6 Comments
 

Given the nature of this industry, I think any exit opp in the real estate industry is possible from any starting point. Example, going from property management to acquisitions will be difficult and require many handshakes, but it's possible.

However, MF REPE is different and similar to any other MF PE firm; top candidates will have IB background, acquisition analyst background at top developers/investment firms, or have a super strong connection. Capital markets brokerage to REPE is very common, but it's mostly done from a big brokerage to a smaller/mid-sized, local REPE.

Side note: What MF REPE firms are you referring to exactly? Apollo, Blackstone, etc.. are out of question for most. But something like Lasalle IM is a lot more doable.

Also, from what I've seen, when it comes to going from brokerage to repe, D/E placement>IS>Leasing.

 

Generally, no, they come from top tier IBs and other REPE funds.

Of course, it’s theoretically possible to break into blackstone/Apollo from Cushman Wakefield brokerage or whatever.

But the type of person to break into Blackstone or Apollo from brokerage would have the resourcefulness to look this up on LinkedIn rather than make two separate threads about it

 

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