Knight Frank has appointed Edward Owen as head of international capital USA to bolster its cross-border capital markets capabilities.
Owen will be based in the Washington DC office of Berkadia – one of Knight Frank’s US-based partners – and will be responsible for working alongside Berkadia partners to identify, pursue and execute large-scale capital markets transactions in the US, sourcing offshore capital via Knight Frank’s global network.
He will establish an international capital desk tasked with managing inbound capital into the Berkadia network, as well as engaging with outbound US investors seeking to deploy capital into the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific region.
Owen has 17 years of international real estate experience and prior to joining Knight Frank he spent 18 months at Mason Owen. He also spent four years as head of new markets, real estate EMEA at WeWork and earlier in his career he worked for Swire Partners.
He will work closely with Knight Frank’s Neil Brookes, global head of capital markets, and James Mannix, global head of living sectors; and Berkadia’s Knight Frank alliance ambassador and executive vice president head of production Ernie Katai.
Brookes said “Ed’s appointment further bolsters our strategic alliance with Berkadia, which has created the world’s largest privately-owned capital markets platform, offering unparalleled access to capital globally, including institutional, sovereign, and private wealth. The alliance comes at a pivotal time, with a surge in investment activity led by North America-based investors.
“Buoyed by a strong US dollar and interest in diversifying portfolios and targeting liquidity across a wide geographical and sectoral range, US-domiciled investors are currently the most active in terms of cross-border investments.”
Mannix added “Over the next 10 years, the living sectors will be the largest investable asset class globally. In response, Knight Frank is on a mission to build the world’s best and most-trusted global living sectors advisory platform. Our alliance with Berkadia is founded upon our shared specialism in this area.
“The appointment of Ed will supercharge our partnership to ensure we are delivering the very best advice to clients the world over by fully leveraging both Knight Frank’s vast global network and Berkadia’s deep footprint in the US capital markets.”
Justin Wheeler, Berkadia chief executive officer, said: “We’re thrilled to have Ed join us in the US and sit in our DC Metro office. With Ed working stateside, he and Berkadia’s advisors will maximise returns for clients on major capital market transactions, both in the US and overseas, as well as connect our clients with a wealth of new capital sources and unforeseen opportunities.”
