Nido, CA Ventures, MidOcean Energy, Neptune Energy, Knight Frank, Tikehau Capital, The RMR Group, LaSalle Investment Management, Landmark Properties, Madison International Realty, CA Ventures, MA Financial, JLL

Nido – The European student accommodation platform has appointed Carlo Matta as CEO to drive the business as it accelerates its growth strategy. Matta will expand the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board-owned company’s investment and development focus in target markets, building on the well-established management business. Matta’s previous role as president of CA Ventures’ European business, where he directed the business into new markets such as Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK. Matta’s other notable roles include MD at Hines Europe, where he led Hines’ Pan-European office development fund, and CEO of Actis portfolio company Laurus Development Partners.

Landmark Properties – The developer of student housing in the US has appointed Tom Banning director of UK and Ireland development as part of the firm’s expansion into the region. Landmark said it is assembling a UK-based team spearheaded by the hiring of Banning. Banning joined from CA Ventures where he served as SVP of development from the end of 2020. Prior to that, he was a development director at CA Ventures for two years. Banning also worked at Watkin Jones, Threesixty Developments and Knightsbridge Student Housing.

MidOcean Energy – Armand Lumens has been appointed CFO. Lumens most recently served as group CFO of Neptune Energy. Prior to his tenure at Neptune Energy, he held the position of group CFO at Louis Dreyfus. Previously, Lumens spent more than 24 years at Shell, where he held various senior positions, including CFO of Shell Trading, chief internal auditor and head of group external reporting and planning.

JLL – Jolyon Thomson has been appointed executive director for the logistics and industrial team in Singapore, where he works with the firm’s Singapore’s markets advisory team to identify opportunities to engage with investors and occupiers in Singapore. Thomson who joined JLL four years ago was previously country head of logistics and industrial in New Zealand. Prior to joining JLL, he held various roles at Colliers International in New Zealand, rising to director where he also specialised in Industrial sales and leasing. Mike Pyke has is now JLL’s co-head of equity advisory in Australia and New Zealand. He spent 11 years at MA Financial, with six of those years in the group’s investment banking business and the corporate executive group. More recently, he headed MA Financial’s institutional capital business.

Knight Frank – Jackie Cheung has been appointed director of ESG for Asia-Pacific and Singapore. Cheung joined Knight Frank two years ago in Hong Kong and has been instrumental in transforming the firm’s approach to ESG in Greater China. In his new role, Cheung will be responsible for leading ESG efforts in Asia-Pacific and Singapore and will provide valuable insights and advisory services related to ESG factors across different countries to the firm’s clients. Internally, Cheung will integrate ESG considerations into corporate decision-making processes to foster sustainable growth across the region.

Tikehau Capital – Steffen Meinshausen has been appointed head of real estate Germany. Meinshausen will be based in Frankfurt and will be responsible for developing Tikehau Capital’s European real estate impact strategy in Germany. Meinshausen was previously head of German investments at Madison International Realty. Before joining Madison, Meinshausen worked in various leadership positions at 777 Capital Advisors and Corestate Capital Advisors. He began his career at Lazard and Cerberus Capital Management.  

Mission net zero – The hospitality ESG consultancy has appointed James Devitt head of strategy to drive ESG best-practice for the hotel sector. In his new role as head of strategy, he will be fundamental in the strategic direction of the ESG consultancy across the hotel sector. Devitt has worked in the hospitality sector since 1982 with chartered surveyors William Hillary, Humberts Leisure and Druce Hotels, brewers Greene King and accountants PKF Hotels where he was director of hotel property services. He is MD of Herald Hotels, an independent hotel purchasing advisory company he founded in 2013. Prior to forming Herald, Devitt was executive director at CBRE Hotels responsible for all hotel valuation, consultancy, and professional services across EMEA.

The RMR Group – Summit Walia has been appointed VP, head of residential acquisitions. In this new role, Walia will lead the execution of RMR Residential’s investment strategy across the US. Walia was most recently MD, real estate acquisitions for LaSalle Investment Management. Previously, he was executive director, real estate acquisitions for JP Morgan Asset Management.