CBRE Taps Former Morgan Stanley CRE Banking Head For Board Of Directors
The world's largest commercial real estate firm has added a former banking executive who has worked on some of the industry's largest deals to its board of directors.
Guy Metcalfe, the former director and global chairman of Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment banking group, will join CBRE's board next week, the company announced Friday.
Metcalfe spent three decades at Morgan Stanley, where he oversaw $850B worth of transactions with the firm’s investment banking clients.
He has also previously served as a strategic adviser to CBRE, working with the brokerage on select transactions, efforts to raise capital and mergers and acquisitions.
“Guy is one of the premier strategic advisors in the real estate industry,” CBRE Chairman and CEO Bob Sulentic said in a statement. “Our Board will be greatly enhanced by his deep knowledge of and broad perspective on our sector as well as his sharp strategic thinking as we plot a course for CBRE’s continued growth.”
Metcalfe retired from Morgan Stanley at the end of January and is slated to join CBRE’s board on Feb. 26.
“I’ve seen CBRE up close for many years and know its strategic, operational and financial strengths are unmatched in the real estate services sector,” Metcalfe said in a statement. “The company is extremely well positioned for the future and I am excited to work with Bob and my fellow Directors to help drive growth and excellence across the business.”
Transactions featuring high-profile names are dispersed amid Metcalfe’s three decades with Morgan Stanley, such as advising on Prologis’ acquisitions of AMB Property Corp., KTR Capital Partners, Industrial Property Trust, Liberty Property Trust and Duke Realty.
During his time at Morgan Stanley, Metcalfe oversaw the largest leveraged buyout in history with Blackstone’s $39B acquisition of Equity Office Properties Trust in 2007, Bloomberg previously reported. He also advised on Blackstone’s acquisitions of companies, including Hilton Hotels, BioMed Realty Trust and QTS, as well as on multiple separate IPOs, private capital raises, and secured and unsecured debt offerings.
Metcalfe joins CBRE amid a period of transition. It posted a net income of more than $1B last year after an unexpectedly strong fourth quarter, but since the second half of 2022 it has announced $550M in cost cuts, the majority of which came in the form of layoffs.
His appointment brings CBRE’s number of directors to 12. Three of those directors are women, which is below the average among the 16 biggest brokerages in the U.S., according to data compiled last fall for Bisnow's annual DEI Data Series. It has among the highest number of people of color at the board and C-Suite level of any brokerage in the analysis.
