Imran Ahmed, Executive Managing Director at CBRE Capital Markets will be addressing Baker students on February 19th for the program’s weekly Distinguished Speaker Series. Ahmed brings with him an extensive background in real estate finance and investments, having been involved in over $100 billion of transaction activity with extensive experience in principal investments, M&A, equity and debt capital markets, structured finance, and corporate advisory.
Ahmed joined CBRE in 2013, having previously served as Co-Head of the Real Estate, Lodging and Gaming practice at KPMG Corporate Finance, where he advised Kuwait Finance House on the restructuring of a large, mixed-use development project in Bristol, UK; advised Oaktree Capital Management and National Financial Realty joint venture on its acquisition of a 40-property net-leased portfolio; and worked with the Sahara Group on its acquisition of the Plaza and Dream Hotels in New York City.
Prior to that, Ahmed served as Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Ranieri Real Estate Partners, raising a commingled institutional distressed debt fund; acquired integrated multifamily financing and servicing platform Berkshire Mortgage Company (now Berkeley Point Capital); and acquired real estate services platform the Situs Companies.
Before that, Ahmed was a Managing Director in the Real Estate Investment Banking and Commercial Real Estate Divisions at Deutsche Bank Securities, where he participated in the execution of over 40 capital markets and M&A advisory transactions representing $20+ billion of total capital for clients within the retail real estate, multifamily, lodging, data center and regional gaming sectors. In addition, Ahmed was responsible for the Deutsche Bank Securities real estate franchise’s entry into the Middle East and South Asia, where his transaction activity included financing Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai and listing Indian real estate funds including Unitech Corporate Parks, Dev Property Development and Ishaan Real Estate on the London Stock Exchange.
Mr. Ahmed led a number of high-profile real estate deals including the Related Companies’ sale of 25% non-voting minority interest, the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino’s restructuring, the privatization of LNR Properties, the sale of The Rouse Company to GGP, the privatization of Hilton Hotels and Toys “R” Us, and various public and private capital raises for AIMCO, AvalonBay, Corporate Office, First Industrial, iStar, Public Storage and Vornado. He was also involved in co-mingled fund raises for KTR Capital, Phillips Edison and Kotak Realty Fund.
Ahmed earned B.S. and B.Arch. degrees from Cornell University, a S.M. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a MBA from Harvard Business School. Students in the Baker Program in Real Estate look forward to learning from Ahmed, one of the many benefits of the two-year specialized Master’s Degree Program offered through Cornell University.
