Taro Squires is relocating from Japan to lead Blackstone’s Australia property business
Blackstone has appointed Taro Squires as head of real estate for Australia, replacing Chris Tynan, the former Morgan Stanley executive who joined the US private equity giant in 2016 to build out its local property platform.
Squires is due to take on the role from 1 July, relocating from Japan where he has spent much of his career, market sources confirmed to Mingtiandi. Tynan will remain with Blackstone in a senior advisory capacity through at least the end of the year.
The leadership transition comes as Blackstone’s Australian platform stands at $50 billion in real estate assets under management, marking a tenfold increase since Tynan assumed leadership a decade ago. His tenure has been defined by a string of high-profile transactions that helped cement Blackstone as one of the most active foreign investors in Australian property, including the $6.3 billion buyout of casino operator Crown Resorts.
Another major transaction nearing completion is the A$1.2 billion ($820 million) purchase of Hamilton Island, a resort destination in Queensland, further expanding the firm’s exposure to hospitality assets as part of its broader thematic strategy.
International Background
Squires brings more than two decades of experience across real estate investment and asset management in Asia Pacific, most recently serving as a managing director within Blackstone’s real estate group in Tokyo.
Chris Tynan will remain in an advisory role until at least the end of the year (Image: Blackstone)
Before joining Blackstone, he spent five years at HJ Asset Management in Japan as a founding member, following an 11-year stint at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Singapore with a focus on real estate investment and asset management.
His earlier career includes roles at Morgan Stanley in Japan and Itochu Corporation in Australia and Japan, where he worked on natural resources and infrastructure investments, adding to a cross-sector background that aligns with Blackstone’s increasingly diversified property strategy.
The appointment of Squires, a graduate of Griffith University in Brisbane, signals continuity in Blackstone’s approach to the Australian market while reinforcing its Asia Pacific integration, with his Japan experience expected to support the firm’s regional capital deployment and operational playbook.
Alternative Sectors
Under Tynan, Blackstone has zeroed in on alternative real estate sectors, prioritising rental housing, logistics, data centres and hospitality over traditional office and retail investments as it pursues global yield and structural growth trends.
That strategy saw the Manhattan-based firm build positions in platforms like Student One student housing and Fort Knox self-storage, while also integrating the Valad property platform to deepen its operating capabilities in the region.
Blackstone also remained an active trader of assets, executing its build-fix-sell model through disposals including the $2.9 billion sale of its Milestone logistics portfolio to an ESR-GIC partnership.
The US giant similarly assembled and has been selling down a A$3 billion shopping centre portfolio, while seeking to recycle capital from a trio of Sydney office towers acquired from Scentre Group for A$1.5 billion in 2019, including the 32-storey JP Morgan headquarters.
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