Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets appoints Steven Sewell as Executive Director, Real Estate

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) has appointed Steven Sewell as Executive Director, Real Estate, based in London.

With more than 17 years of experience in the global real estate sector, Steven brings to the role significant expertise in real estate funds management, asset management, equity and debt capital markets and M&A transactions. Steven will also bring valuable insight and connection to global real estate investors developed during his career.

Steven was most recently the Managing Director and CEO of Federation Centres (since rebranded Vicinity Centres), an ASX-listed REIT with A$22.7 billion of Australian shopping centres under management. Prior to this, he spent seven years with Macquarie, latterly as CEO of Macquarie CountryWide Trust, an ASX-listed REIT which owned shopping centres in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. 

Matthew Banks, Global Head of Real Estate for MIRA, commented: “With a strong track record in real estate funds management and capital transactions, Steven will be a valuable addition to the MIRA team as we continue to expand our global real estate platform.

“Steven will be responsible for overseeing MIRA Real Estate in Europe and North America as we develop our real estate business in these two key markets, building on our current platform in Asia, Australia and Mexico,” said Matthew.

Commenting on his appointment, Steven Sewell said: “MIRA’s real estate plans represent a great opportunity for me to return to Macquarie to assist MIRA’s strategic objective of building out a real estate investment management capability globally.”

MIRA’s real estate team has been significantly expanded over the last 12 months with key senior hires including Ralf Nocker (Europe), Andrew Calderwood (USA), RK Narayan (India) and Chia-Wen Toeh (Hong Kong).

The business operates a regional model that includes partnering with best in class local operators and developing close relationships to drive asset performance and operational efficiency. The investment strategy encompasses both developed and developing markets and is able to leverage MIRA’s existing relationships and platform in infrastructure investments. In developed markets, the current focus is on niche real estate sectors where we see good relative value and in selected developing economies, the business will seek to capitalize on opportunities in mainstream real estate sectors.

MIRA Real Estate has £2.8bn AuM (as at 30 September 2015) with a portfolio of c. 300 retail, commercial, residential and industrial properties in China, Mexico and Australia. The business has raised US$1.9bn in real estate capital in the last 24 months. MIRA has a deep history in real estate, having launched more than 35 listed and unlisted real estate funds and committing US$18.6bn in capital across a wide range of sectors and regions since 1987.

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