Harrison Street Acquires Transwestern REIT Team
| Harrison Street Capital CEO Chris Merrill confirmed to us he's branching out into a new line of business: His firm acquiredTranswestern Securities Management, a six-person team that contols $350M in REIT securities. The buy brings Harrison Street to a whopping $2.7B in assets under management. |
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Chris, left, isn't hiring a pack of strangers, either. He's worked with many of them before, including principal and co-portfolio managerReagan Pratt, right, and client services/marketing head Chris Zolloat Heitman. Chris Merrill says nothing except the name (to becomeHarrison Street Securities) will change for the Transwestern team, formerly part of Transwestern Investment Corp. We weren't certain what REIT securities were, so we called up NAREITs Ron Kuykendall to clarify: They're the stock—common shares and perferred shares—of ownership in real estate. Just yesterday at a YREP luncheon (see below) Transwestern's Steven Quazzo said now is the time to focus on his business's core competencies, so he chose to sell the division for an undisclosed price. |
