Henderson Park founder makes senior hires

Henderson Park, the new European private equity real estate firm targeting equity and debt run by one-time Mount Kellett co-founder Nick Weber, has made two hires.

Weber has brought in two former associates: Michael Jenkinson, a director in Goldman Sachs’ special situations group, and Adel Oucherif, a former colleague at Mount Kellet. Weber was a partner and co-head at Goldman Sachs before setting up Mount Kellett with Goldman’s Mark McGoldrick in 2008.

As reported yesterday by Real Estate Capital’s sister title, PERE, Jenkinson and Oucherif have joined as principals of Henderson Park’s investment team and will lead on finding investments to deploy the €500 million of equity from backers Stone Point Capital, Kuwait Investment Authority and Wafra Investment Advisory Group.

Henderson Park will invest in value-add and opportunistic real estate deals either via equity or indirectly through debt.

The firm’s first deal was buying Paris’s giant Le Méridien Étoile hotel which was financed with a €200 million senior loan from Natixis. There are more in the pipeline with at least one thought likely to close before the end of the year.

The team, now 12-strong, is based in Victoria in London. Weber said the calibre of the latest appointments “underlines the depth of our ambition to cement Henderson Park as a market-leading European real estate investment platform, supported by a team of experienced professionals demonstrating a strong track record.”