Ex-Gramercy chief to launch new investment firm

The former chief executive of Gramercy Property Trust, bought by Blackstone in 2018 in a $7.6bn deal, is setting up a new real estate investment firm. Gordon DuGan, who was chief executive of Gramercy when it agreed a sale to Blackstone, will chair Blackbrook Capital, a London-based, Europe-focused investment firm. Blackbrook’s chief executive will be Arvi Luoma, who was most recently head of European investments at WP Carey, a real estate investment trust specialising in sale-and-leaseback deals and of which DuGan was once chief executive. Eldridge Industries, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm, is supporting the launch of Blackbrook, with initial capital commitments understood to be north of $1bn. DuGan spent two decades with WP Carey with a brief stint outside of the firm in the mid-1990s. He joined as assistant to the chairman in 1988, and in 1995 he became senior vice president in the acquisitions department. Rejoining the firm in 1997 after a corporate chief financial officer post, he then was named president in 1999, co-chief executive in 2002 and sole chief executive in 2005. He left the firm in 2010. To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette