Boreal appoints former AEW investment head as partner 

Boreal appoints former AEW investment head as partner
Nikos Koulouras

Pan-European real estate investment manager Boreal IM has appointed Nikos Koulouras, the former head of investments at global investment advisor AEW, as a partner.

Koulouras brings over 20 years of investment experience to Boreal IM. The company, founded in late 2021, is assembling a €3bn pan-European portfolio in a JV with Cadillac Fairview, the real estate arm of €242bn (AUM) Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund.

Koulouras spent over seven years as investment head at the €85bn (AUM) AEW, where he led the firm’s pan-European value-add investment team.

Prior to AEW, he worked for Merrill Lynch in London and was also joint head of real estate at Salamanca Group. Koulouras has been directly involved in over €2bn of transactions across 12 countries.

Koulouras will focus on the development and implementation of Boreal IM’s overall investment strategy. He joins a senior leadership team led by Boreal IM’s founder and CEO, Louis-Simon Ferland, who oversaw the creation of Blackstone’s €12.5bn pan-European logistics platform Logicor. The other two partners are James Farmer, a former Europa Capital partner and regional head of Germany, the Netherlands & CEE, where he led on all logistics transactions, and Peter Bingel, formerly of Blackstone and now Boreal IM’s CFO.

Nikos Koulouras, partner at Boreal IM, said: “Boreal has already established itself as a market leader in the short time it has been operating, and I look forward to contributing my experience and knowledge, both across sectors and European markets, to the business. The opportunity to support the build-out of its long-term vision and work with the great team already assembled, were key drivers behind my decision to join Boreal.

“The Cadillac Fairview mandate is ringing endorsement of the company’s investment strategy and the partners’ proven track record in delivering for institutional investors. I look forward to working closely with Louis-Simon, James andPeter, as well as the talented wider team, to help implement it.”

Boreal IM has already deployed almost €275m of equity over a number of transactions as part of its mandate with Cadillac Fairview, including 16 assets across 240,000 sqm (2.6m sqft) in the Netherlands and a four-warehouse estate in Park Royal in the UK.

Germany, France, Spain and Italy are the other major European locations identified by the joint venture, which can invest across the entire risk-return spectrum to include standing assets and ground up developments.

Louis-Simon Ferland, CEO and founder of Boreal IM, commented: “Nikos and I have been friends for over 18 years, having first met at Columbia Business School and then starting our real estate investment careers together at Merrill Lynch. He has successfully executed complex and sophisticated investment strategies on behalf of institutional capital and brings to Boreal an excellent industry reputation, solid development expertise and in-depth knowledge across many sectors and geographies.

“His appointment is a further illustration of our ability to attract the best talent in the industry, which forms an instrumental part of driving long-term and sustainable value for our investment partners. We look forward to having him onboard.”