In April, Keppel Corp. CEO Loh Chin Hua got in touch with Aermont Capital Chairman Léon Bressler for a friendly chat. The Singaporean conglomerate was looking to expand into European property, and Keppel's leader wanted to know what Bressler, one of the grandees of the sector, thought. A couple of video calls later, the conversation got more serious. Loh and Keppel Chief Investment Officer Christina Tan flew to London and met Bressler and his partners. That's how, with no formal process, an £800M deal for Keppel to buy one of the most successful European real estate private equity firms of the past two decades was completed last week. “This was really what they call an ‘off-market’ between two partners that came together and said, ‘Hey, I think we can do something special here together,’” Loh said on an analyst conference call last week. 
The call gave deep insight into the strategy for the combined businesses, including plans for new data centre and debt funds, how Aermont plans to invest during the downturn, the fund performance figures that have made it such an attractive takeover target and how the profits on future deals will be… Read the full story here. | 
