New York, NY – June 13, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, today announced it has appointed Kevin Hoo, a former Tishman Speyer executive, as Vice President. In his new position, Mr. Hoo will manage assets in the firm’s portfolio, oversee and coordinate development, along with leasing and repositioning Savanna properties. He will also be involved in acquisition underwriting, financial modeling and deal structuring.
Mr. Hoo joins Savanna after nearly three years with Tishman Speyer, where he most recently held the position of Director of Commercial Leasing and Sales, with a specific focus on Rockefeller Center and 200 Park Avenue. Mr. Hoo began his tenure at Tishman Speyer in the Emerging Markets group and was responsible for managing acquisition and development opportunities, and then subsequently added supervision of design and construction elements to that role. He later transitioned into the New York Acquisitions group before joining the Commercial Leasing and Sales group. Prior to Tishman Speyer, he was an Associate Director in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at UBS AG in Sydney, Australia, where he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions for REIT clients.
“Kevin brings an extensive career in real estate, including relationships with prominent brokers and tenants, and a proven track record of success. In addition, his experience in acquisitions and development of commercial real estate properties makes him a perfect fit for our company as we continue to add to our portfolio. We are very pleased to have Kevin join the Savanna team,” said Christopher Schlank.
Mr. Hoo received a Bachelor of Commerce and Law with honors from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
In April 2011, Savanna announced the final closing of its second fund, Savanna Real Estate Fund II, LP, with $550 million of total equity commitments, exceeding its $400 million target.
About Savanna
Formed in 1992, Savanna is an institutional real estate private equity firm and asset management company based in New York City and run by Managing Partners Christopher Schlank and Nicholas Bienstock. The firm pursues opportunistic real estate equity and debt asset investments throughout the northeastern United States, focusing on directly owning and operating properties in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metro area. The firm’s equity investments target superior risk-adjusted returns by adding value through asset management and/or property development, redevelopment, and repositioning. Savanna also selectively invests in real estate debt instruments that have the potential to generate equity-like returns, including preferred equity instruments, high-yield bridge and mezza nine loans, and B-notes. Since inception, Savanna has invested more than $1.7 billion in total capital across 15.2 million square feet of real property across multiple asset classes and locations, representing over $3.75 billion in total capitalization.
