Corporate Development at a REIT
Hi Everyone,
I currently work at a REIT in Toronto that specializes in a niche sector of real estate. My role involves working on strategic projects (equity raises, IR, capital planning, financing etc) directly with the CFO and a VP. I'm just wondering what opportunities I can obtain from this role in the future as its more corporate finance than it is real estate investing. I like the position I'm in but should I try to move over to the investing side? Try to move up within this role? Move to a bigger player? Do I have transferability into other industries? I'd ideally like to stay within the space but am just curious.
What do you want to do in your career?
I like the role I'm in now but since my REIT is smaller there aren't too many well paying mid level positions (usually analyst/director/vp etc.). I'd ideally want to have a similar mix of responsibilities that I do now but with more management responsibility. I don't care much for acquisitions/asset management as long as I'm doing interesting work. Maybe try to find something at Oxford/Brookfield down the road for the sake of brand as well (and also money).
What you should do is based on your long term goals. If you want to be an acquisitions guy, then yes you should probably leave for another job.
But I know of some former IB guys and former equity analysts who go into roles like yours. REIT CFOs are often promoted from roles with responsibilities similar to yours. Look up the SITE Centers CFO as an example.
If you enjoy the work, I don’t see how the job is limiting you. I feel that you could potentially be very bored in acquisitions where there is a lot of repetition compared to your current job where you have a wide variety of responsibilities.
Also, if you’re at a smaller organization. I could see some benefit in trying to lateral to a bigger REIT where there are more opportunities for “mid-level” guys. Meaning if you’re an analyst working with the CFO on Capital raising, when you get more experience are they going to pay you as a VP? Give you VP-like responsibilities? If the answer is no, consider lateraling to a bigger REIT but in a similar position
I'm not particularly fussed about investments and I do enjoy dealing with high level corporate finance. The work is incredibly interesting but I am curious to see where I could go from here. Could I parlay this experience into a more management type role (say manager corp dev/similar)? Like most of the roles I would lateral to might make me start over as a junior analyst (REIB/Investments) etc. I actually like what I'm doing and want to move up in it but maybe somewhere else down the road.
If you are a first year analyst and find the work you do "incredibly interesting", I think it's safe to say that you are in a good spot. I'd recommend you to continue down this path for a few years and reassess when you have a bit more experience under your belt. I wouldn't worry about your exit ops just yet
I've had other experiences been working for a few years in an fp&a and commercial banking role. This is my third role 2.5 years out of school and been here 6 months. Definitely going to stick around and see what happens.
You moved from a commercial banking role to corporate development? That's not bad.
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