Cushman & Wakefield, the behemoth New York-based commercial real estate services firm with 230 offices in 60 countries, has acquired the remaining 35% interest of its debt and equity finance subsidiary Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman. As part of the acquisition, the privately held company has restructured and expanded its New York capital markets group under the leadership of Steven Kohn, who will continue in his role as president of Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.
The moves comes three years after Cushman & Wakefield’s initial acquisition of a 65% stake in Sonnenblick Goldman, an independent real estate investment banking firm with roots in New York real estate dating back to 1893. Sonnenblick Goldman also has vast experience in the financing and sale of hospitality and leisure properties. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kohn also will assume leadership of an expanded New York capital markets group that will offer a full complement of real estate capital markets services in New York City. Services will range from traditional sales and financing for all property types to recapitalizations to joint ventures and note sales.
Some of Kohn’s most notable New York City assignments have included the equity recapitalization of 31 W. 52nd St., the senior debt financing for W.P. Carey’s investment in The New York Times Co.’s headquarters, and more recently the sale of the junior mezzanine loan on 510 Madison Ave.
This is a time of rapid change for the global real estate capital markets, remarked Glenn Rufrano, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, in a press release. “It’s more important than ever to offer investors a full range of capital services in equity and debt, and we believe our model going forward will best deliver on that promise.”
In addition to Kohn, the New York capital markets group will include the Investment sales team of Nathaniel Rockett, Helen Hwang and Karen Wiedenmann.
Rockett, who has been named an executive vice president, has more than 17 years of experience in commercial property sales in the New York area. He recently joined Cushman & Wakefield from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was a managing director and head of New York investment sales. Since joining JLL in 2004, he has completed approximately $1.75 billion in property sales.
Hwang, also an executive vice president, has more than a decade of real estate industry experience and has been involved in more than 40 institutional transactions valued at more than $12 billion. She serves as an industry expert guest speaker for some of the top REIT equity research teams in the nation, including Banc of America Merrill Lynch, ISI Group and UBS, as well as New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.
Wiedenmann, an executive director, has more than 20 years of experience in the real estate industry. She previously managed the New York City real estate assets for CB Hampshire, a New Jersey-based property management partnership between CBRE and Hampshire Management.
The announcements follow major strategic initiatives within Cushman & Wakefield’s global capital markets group, including the appointment of Greg Vorwaller as global head of capital markets and John Stinson as managing director and head of capital markets throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Vorwaller, who begins his first official day on the job today (Nov. 1), comes from CB Richard Ellis and will be based in Chicago. Stinson, who was formerly the Asia-Pacific regional director for investments and capital markets with DTZ, is based in Singapore.