JLL hires from Deutsche Bank for new corporate finance role

Deutsche Bank’s European head of mergers and acquisitions for real estate, gaming and lodging has joined Jones Lang Lasalle.

John O’Driscoll has left the bank after eight years and will become part of the advisory firm’s corporate finance department where he will take up the new role of head of mergers & acquisitions for Europe, Middle East & Africa. Based in London he will focus on “mid-to-large size real estate M&A transactions, along with wider JLL corporate finance and capital markets client services”.

O’Driscoll will oversee a European team which includes director Tim Edghill in the UK and specialists in France and Germany.

“There is a very positive M&A environment at the moment across Europe,” O’Driscoll told Real Estate Capital. “All factors support deals getting done – there is a prolonged period of stability in Europe, providing confidence; listed companies are trading well and there is increased liquidity in the debt market. I think we will see it across sectors and geographies, not just economies with distress.”

Large property advisory firms hope to win more corporate finance work as the market recovers, Eastdil Secured’s entry into the European market from the US is a successful example, and O’Driscoll says that advisors such as JLL can start winning more work from investment banks.

“Traditional M&A advice has been the domain of investment banks for many years but this is now changing as clients demand more specialist sector and industry knowledge. The toolkit available at JLL is slightly different but extremely effective. We could work alongside investment banks but I think in the vast majority of instances we have what we need in house.”

Arthur de Haast, head of corporate finance for EMEA at JLL said: “John has deep experience and with positive economic fundamentals and the high amount of capital targeting real estate opportunities in Europe, his expertise will broaden our client M&A offering in the region”.