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Blaxland joins GE Capital in Madrid GE Capital Real Estate has appointed Simon Blaxland as managing director of its Iberia operations and he will be based in Madrid. “I will be responsible for driving the growth of GE Capital’s new business in Spain and Portugal, as well as taking the existing business forward,” said Blaxland. “I am excited because Spain and Portugal are both small markets and with GE Capital there are lots of things to play with – both big deals and small. We have the right product mix and I am confident about the future.” He is very familiar with the Spanish market and previously co-headed the European Real Estate Corporate Finance team at Goldman Sachs. During this time he was involved in a number of transactions in Spain, including advising Prima Inmobiliaria on its merger with Vallehermoso, and Caja Madrid in the merger of its property interests with those of FCC, to create Realia. Before this, Blaxland worked in the real estate private equity team at Goldman Sachs. King to rule HQ alone Julian King is to manage HQ Global Workplaces’ European arm alone, following the departure of joint managing director Ron Adam this month. The operational side of the business, which used to be managed by Adam, will remain in the hands of the present team. LIM promotes three LaSalle Investment Management has made three promotions to regional European director: Andrew Jeanes, Giles Morley and Claus Thomas. Jeanes will be based in London, where he will be responsible for UK separate accounts and will become more involved in European investment vehicles. Also based in London, Morley will take responsibility for defining investment strategies, purchases, sales and asset management for property investment funds. Thomas will be based in Munich, where he will be responsible for client services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. White joins DTZ Alan White has been appointed head of corporate consultancy at DTZ Pieda Consulting. White’s main responsibility will be to spearhead the expansion of DTZ’s services in the corporate occupier sector. He will also support the company’s strategic development of occupier services across Europe. White’s most recent position at British Telecom saw him taking responsibility for operational property worldwide. Prior to this, he was director of property at Lloyds/TSB Group. Mark Struckett, chief executive of DTZ Holdings, said: “Alan’s expertise and experience will help us to focus on what our clients really need from their property and improve our understanding of their businesses.” Rodda joins H&B Portugal Mike Rodda has been appointed head of retail at Healey & Baker’s Portugal office. He was previously an associate director in the leisure team at Jones Lang LaSalle in London. HVB makes banking appointments HVB Real Estate Capital has launched HVB Real Estate Investment Banking, appointing Neil Jeffares and Maitland Bruce to run it. Both will be responsible for arranging structures to optimise tax or capital employed and advising on equity and debt sources for acquisitions of assets or companies. Jeffares was previously head of structured finance at Shell Capital, while Bruce was director of real estate finance at UBS Warburg. Heitman appoints three Heitman has appointed Mark Gamble as vice-president of asset management for its international team. Gamble will be based in Warsaw where he will be responsible for standing investments in central Europe and due diligence of new acquisitions. He was previously retail director of DTZ in Poland. Heitman has also appointed Luke Mackenzie as analyst for its European acquisitions group. Mackenzie will analyse potential acquisitions on behalf of the European funds and monitor existing investments. Prior to this he worked for Morgan Stanley in its European real estate investment banking team. The company has promoted David Watkins to senior vice- president and director of international research. Based in Chicago, Watkins will monitor economic, political and real estate market conditions and target markets for future investment. Watkins was previously vice president of Heitman’s US equity research group. Promotions at JLL Jones Lang LaSalle has made the following promotions from national director to European director: Paul Boursican (France), Eric de Clerq Zubli (Netherlands), Margaret Fleming (Ireland), Rainer Koepke (Germany), Michael Lange (Russia) and John Moran (Ireland). All will be responsible for capital markets. Also promoted to European director is Markus Reinert, who will be responsible for management services in Germany. The following have been promoted from associate director to national director: Ben Bannatyne (Czech Republic), Gareth Jones (Poland), Burkhard Plesser (Germany) and Emile Poort (Netherlands). They will work in capital markets. Nigel Griffiths (France), Michael Meincke (Germany) and Ann-Sofie Saaf (Sweden) will work in management services. Pauline Daly (Ireland) will work in the advisory department, Ben Reed (UK) will work in office and industrial agency and Marjolein Westendorp (Netherlands) will work in the professional support department. Hunter joins Ober-Haus David Hunter has joined the real estate division of Ober-Haus, where he will be based in the headquarters in Tallinn. Hunter will be responsible for the retail and warehouse development sectors in the Baltics and the Nordic countries. He was previously a surveyor at Knight Frank in London, before returning to university to take an MBA in business finance. Please send any People moves to Kerry.Ezard@rbi.co.uk