Wesley LePatner, chief operating officer at Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, is set to become chief executive from 1 January.
She will take over from Frank Cohen, who plans to retire from Blackstone after nearly 30 years. Cohen will remain as chairman of the board at BREIT.
Kathleen McCarthy and Nadeem Meghji, global co-heads of Blackstone Real Estate, said: “This announcement effectuates the next stage of BREIT’s long-planned succession. We are incredibly fortunate to have a colleague of Wesley’s calibre, who has been intimately involved with BREIT since inception.
“Wesley will seamlessly step in at a time when real estate values have begun to recover. Frank has been a valuable partner and mentor to all of us and we are incredibly grateful for his dedication to the business.”
Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer at Blackstone, added: “For almost 30 years, Frank has been a friend, partner and enormous contributor to the success of Blackstone Real Estate. We will all miss him.
“We are confident that Wesley will continue to drive exceptional performance through her tremendous talent and sector expertise. We couldn’t be prouder of how BREIT has delivered for investors since inception seven and a half years ago.”
LePatner joined Blackstone in 2014 to spearhead the creation of the core-plus business, including the launch of all three open-ended core-plus strategies in the US, Europe and Asia.
LePatner said she was “honoured” to be taking over as chief executive of BREIT.
“Its portfolio is over 85% concentrated in data centres, industrial and rental housing, sectors which are benefiting from mega trends and we are well positioned to capitalise on the highly compelling opportunities in today’s market.”
Photo by Taidgh Barron/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Send feedback to Samantha McClary
Follow Estates Gazette
