Blackstone rings the changes at the top in Europe

Blackstone has appointed James Seppala as the head of real estate in Europe. The 38-year-old rising star has been promoted from head of European real estate acquisitions. Seppala has led the company’s push into the Nordics, Germany and Spain including last year’s purchase of Office First, Sponda and the Banco Popular loan book transactions. He replaces Anthony Myers who has led the business for three years and now moves into the new role of chairman of Europe for the real estate business. The head of European acquisitions role, which has proved something of an accelerator role for leading lights at Blackstone, has been filled by Samir Amichi. Ken Caplan, now global chief investment officer for real estate, previously held the role and went on to lead the European real estate business, as did Myers. Over Blackstone’s last three European opportunistic funds it has delivered 17-22% net returns and its latest European fund is the largest on record while it has also now launched a Core+ fund. To send feedback, e-mail david.hatcher@egi.co.uk or tweet @hatcherdavid or @estatesgazette