#120 Simon Cooke - founding shareholder & board member of Catella APAM

Simon Cooke is a founding shareholder and board member of Catella APAM, with over 40 years of experience in UK commercial real estate. He co-founded APAM in 2009 and he chairs the Investment Committee and shapes strategy, asset management, and client relationships.

Simon recently launched the firm’s first listed equities fund, securing £102.2 million to target undervalued UK-listed property companies.

His background includes senior roles at Deutsche Asset Management, Close Brothers’ and CBRE giving him deep insight into both public and private markets.

I sat down with Simon, to discuss a broad range of subjects which covered some of the following topics:

·   Early career steps, Rugby and what drew him into a career in real estate

·   The story behind the name "APAM"

·   The value of focusing on your strengths and staying in your lane

·   Starting APAM by capitalising on distressed and receivership opportunities during the GFC

·   Evolving the model to partner with international private equity, by providing asset-level expertise

·   How he and Will built, scaled, and reasons for part exiting to Catella

·   Structuring JV’s with partners, and aligning incentives

·   Choosing the right opportunities over chasing sector trends

·   Balancing personal circumstances with professional ambitions

·   Why now is the right moment to launch a UK equity fund

Oh and one last question - who are the People, what Property, and in which Place Simon would invest should he have £500m of capital at his disposal.

Catch the full episode which is live on Youtube, Spotify and Apple NOW!

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#realestate #privateequity #property #assetmanager