JLL Snatches Key Outbound Broker From CBRE

The chance to grab a piece of China’s estimated $20 billion in outbound real estate investment is also creating new opportunities for the country’s deal brokers as evidenced this week when a recently departed CBRE team member resurfaced as a director of JLL’s Capital Markets group.

Kitty Liu, who spent more than nine years with CBRE and is known for her contacts with some of China’s biggest developers and state-owned investors, was introduced in a statement this week as JLL’s new National Director with its International Capital Group. Liu, whose departure from CBRE was first reported here on Mingtiandi, will continue to be based in Beijing.

The International Capital Group was set up by JLL to assist Chinese investors looking for opportunities in global commercial real estate, and Liu will be joining Darren Xia, who heads the unit, as well as Flora Wang, who heads the group’s efforts in Shanghai, in steering the team.

Commenting on Liu’s hire Xia said, “We had been aware for some time of Kitty’s strong track record in serving Chinese investors and were keen to bring her into the JLL fold. We are delighted that she has joined us and are looking forward to leveraging her expertise to continue to secure the best opportunities around the world for our clients.”

The potential upside for JLL is substantial. In 2014, China deployed USD17 billion in commercial real estate overseas compared to USD14 billion in 2013. To date in 2015, outbound investment in commercial real estate is USD 7.5 billion and is predicted to reach USD 20 billion by the end of the year.

“Chinese outbound capital is a permanent and growing feature of global real estate markets and JLL has built a leading position in relation to capturing it,” said Alistair Meadows, Head of International Capital Group, Asia Pacific.

For CBRE, Liu’s defection is the latest in a string of bad news for its capital markets group on the mainland, with several key members having left to join competitors or to go to work directly for Chinese investors, in the last two years.

Wang preceded Liu by several months, in leaving her director role with CBRE to join JLL in October last year,. And Flora’s departure came just a few months after Mark Suchy, who was a key figure in introducing Shanghai’s Greenland Group to over $4 billion in development projects in LA, New York and Toronto, departed to head up Investment Services in Shanghai for Cushman & Wakefield.

The US-based commercial real estate agency has also seen three members of its capital markets team leave to join Dalian Wanda, and Jeffrey Hu, former head of the capital markets group in Shanghai joined a US developer earlier this year.

Despite having access to a large pipeline of US and European assets through its global operations, the company has also suffered director level departures elsewhere in Greater China recently. Dominic Chung, former head of investment in Hong Kong and co-head for China, left to join Colliers in January of this year, and Eric Chen, who led the capital markets group in Taiwan for CBRE, left the company last month to spend more time with his family.