Two former partners from agency Harris Associates have set up their own firm advising on deals in the offices, industrial and retail sectors, and are hoping to shake up the market alongside new names such as Compton and RX London.
Simon Perlmutter (pictured, left) and Dan Cohen (pictured, right) launched Tuatara Real Estate with an initial focus on London transactions. Operating from offices on Foley Street in Fitzrovia, W1 – which the childhood friends dub “the new Soho” – the duo expect early work to come from the offices sector and deals driven by high-net-worth individuals and cash buyers.
“Cash buyers are now becoming prevalent in this market because they double down,” Cohen said, adding that overseas buyers are in a prime position to pick up UK assets at a time of domestic economic difficulty. “Our opinion is that there’s going to be a wash of prospective opportunities on the market and only a select amount are going to be able to perform – and they’re the cash buyers.”
Perlmutter and Cohen have worked on deals valued at more than £3bn between them, including at Harris, the £150m acquisition by private equity group KKR and developer Hondo Enterprises of Highgate Studios, NW5, and Eurazeo Patrimoine and Arax Properties’ near-£170m of acquisition of Derwent’s Johnson Building, EC1.
The pair worked together for six years at Harris, with Cohen joining in late 2015 and Perlmutter in early 2017. The two were friends growing up in north London and studied together at Birmingham University. Real estate runs in the family for both – Perlmutter’s brother Josh is an associate director at Compton, while Cohen’s brother Oliver is a partner at Belcor.
Self-professed “deal-junkie” Perlmutter said market uncertainty provides an opportunity for the new firm.
“All the great stories started in recessions,” he said. “Some of our biggest competitors started in 1989, when there was the last proper recession, and then 2007 and 2008. And they’ve all done unbelievably well.”
Both see the new launch as a chance to play their own part on shaking up the agency market – the company name references a reptile native to New Zealand which is “the fastest adapting animal on earth”. With that in mind, the pair are looking to new agencies such as Compton and RX for inspiration as a “modern, young real estate firm”, Cohen said.
“The truth is [our industry] needs a shake-up,” Perlmutter said. “It needs a fresh start and Covid helped it to modernise much quicker.”
Cohen said: “The real estate industry, as we’ve grown up in it, has always been known as a grey-haired industry. You only earn money when you get to your fifties and sixties. You’ve got to work your way up.
“That’s not the case now. People don’t want to wait. We don’t want to wait. Clients are younger and if our clients are making money at 21, why should we have to wait until we’re 60?”
See more agent information with our On-Demand Rankings>>
To send feedback, e-mail chante.bohitige@eg.co.uk or tweet @bohitige or @EGPropertyNews
