Edmond de Rothschild unites its European real estate firms

Edmond de Rothschild has revealed plans to bring together its three European real estate businesses to create a single entity with more than €10bn of assets under management. The investment house, whose headquarters are in Switzerland, will combine Cording, its asset management company targeting the UK, Germany and Benelux; Orox, a Swiss-focused business; and Cleaveland in France. The three will form a new investment management platform known as Edmond de Rothschild Real Estate Investment Management. The enlarged group will have 11 offices, 148 employees and €10.6bn in AUM. Pierre Jacquot, who was co-head of Orox alongside Arnaud Andrieu, will be chief executive of the new business, with Andrieu deputy CEO and Rodney Bysh, formerly head of Cording, as head of business development. Jacquot told EG the move was “more of a continuous process than a one-off event” given that the three businesses had seen gradual integration since being bought by Edmond de Rothschild. Orox opened in 2007 and has launched several Swiss real estate funds with Edmond de Rothschild, which bought it in 2012. Cleaveland was founded in France in 2005 and bought by Edmond de Rothschild in 2016, while Cording Real Estate Group was set up in 2008 and acquired in 2018. Jacquot said the bringing together of the three businesses gives the real estate operation a newfound scale and reach. “You start to reach a critical mass,” he said of the enlarged AUM, “and even more important is the geographical coverage.” He went on: “We don’t have the intention to become a super-big global company. I think there’s enough competition there. But this is more about giving our local clients the opportunity to ‘travel’ – in inverted commas – abroad to other European markets.” The enlarged real estate business will focus on two types of investment opportunity – funds with a thematic, sectoral or regional focus, and then club deals and joint ventures. “Convictions are like coronavirus, they don’t stop at the border,” Jacquot said of the enlarged group’s ability to now invest with a thematic or sectoral focus across different countries. Jacquot said there will be no job cuts from bringing the businesses together – rather, he added, there are plans to expand in areas including real estate debt. Neither is cost cutting the focus, he added, although he said there will be areas in which savings can be made, such as the research budget. To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette