Tristan Capital names first COO

Recently established real estate investment manager Tristan Capital Partners has hired former Morgan Stanley research head Ian Laming as its new chief operating officer. Laming, who was Morgan’s co-head of equity and fixed income research from 2005 to 2007, will help the fledgling firm expand and launch its own funds, with a focus on European real estate.

London-based Tristan was launched last summer by Ric Lewis, the former chief investment officer of AEW Europe who set up Curzon Global Partners as AEW’s European platform in 1999. AEW dropped the Curzon name following a restructuring last year, with Lewis staying on to manage two funds: European Property Investors and European Properties Investors Special Opportunities.

While Tristan is so far only managing those two vehicles in partnership with AEW, the business expects to launch its own funds in the future. Lewis said in a statement that the firm will look for profit opportunities especially in the UK, and highlighted Laming’s experience running a large European division for Morgan Stanley.

AEW announced in September that the European Properties Investors Special Opportunities fund had acquired a core office building in the west London suburb of Wimbledon at a net initial yield of 10 percent. It was the sixth purchase in the UK by fund, which has so far made total investments of €600 million.