DANIEL GORZAWSKI, FORMER HEAD OF EUROPE AT HARRISON STREET, LAUNCHES ALTERNATIVES FOCUSED PRIVATE EQUITY REAL ESTATE BUSINESS, WESTWIND CAPITAL
DANIEL GORZAWSKI, FORMER HEAD OF EUROPE AT HARRISON STREET, LAUNCHES ALTERNATIVES FOCUSED PRIVATE EQUITY REAL ESTATE BUSINESS, WESTWIND CAPITAL
14 June 2022 - Westwind Capital, a new European private equity real estate investment platform targeting Life Sciences & Innovation real estate and the Living sectors, has been launched by Daniel Gorzawski.
Prior to founding Westwind Capital, Daniel Gorzawski built Harrison Street’s European platform as its first employee on the Continent and as Head of Europe between 2015-2020. At Harrison Street, Daniel was at the forefront of creating specialist investment strategies focused on living sectors and other operationally intensive real estate. He oversaw the construction of a c. €3 billion portfolio which included over 16,000 student beds, 2,600 residential units and over 2 million sq ft of life sciences space across five countries.
During Daniel’s tenure as Head of the European business, Harrison Street raised over US $1 billion in equity commitments for its first three European opportunity funds and one core vehicle. Harrison Street’s first European fund, a late-2015 vintage for which Daniel led the investment strategy, was recently fully realised well ahead of its original returns target. Prior to Harrison Street, Daniel spent nine years at AIG Global Real Estate, latterly as a Managing Director.
Westwind Capital will pursue a unique Pan-European strategy targeting Life Sciences & Innovation real estate and the Living sectors, including Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), Build-to-Rent (BTR) residential, and the more nascent growth sectors of Micro-Living and Co-Living. This will leverage Daniel’s deep expertise in alternative real estate as well as his over 15 years of real estate investment experience.
Westwind Capital believes that these asset classes represent relatively immature and fragmented markets in Europe that are characterised by structural undersupply and underpinned by strong demographic growth drivers, such as urbanisation and societal changes which support long term and diverse occupancy. Westwind Capital intends to act as catalyst and consolidator to benefit from the strong demand from institutional investors for high quality stabilised assets in these sectors.
The business will also adopt an aggregation strategy that aims to capture operational and capital market efficiencies from building out portfolios. It will aim to deliver value add and opportunistic returns from investments across major European markets and primarily the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, and Germany3.
Westwind Capital will principally undertake direct investments working in joint ventures with operating partners and developers, but will consider all entry points including through debt and special situations.
ESG will be embedded into Westwind Capital’s investment and asset management process with all potential transactions evaluated through a sustainability lens, adhering to high standards, while ongoing ESG opportunities will be factored into asset-level business plans. Westwind Capital will seek to be a signatory to the UN PRI by implementing the 'Six Principles for Responsible Investing' and will benchmark and report progress across all ESG initiatives transparently.
Daniel Gorzawski, Founding Partner and CEO of Westwind Capital, commented: “While investor interest in specialist residential and, more recently, life sciences asset classes has grown considerably over the past few years, these sectors are still far from mature and benefit from the central theme of chronic undersupply. Furthermore, I believe the Living sectors are extremely well positioned to provide inflation-hedging qualities through strong demand-supply imbalances and shorter leases. From my conversations with investors over the past year I am confident that there is clear demand for a new, nimble and expert investment platform that can provide them with access to these asset classes across Europe. Additionally, having the flexibility to invest in different parts of the capital structure enables Westwind Capital to source volatility-induced opportunities, which may be forthcoming in the current environment, and create value for investors throughout market cycles.
“I have strong ambitions for Westwind Capital and am excited to have the opportunity to leverage my experience and track record of building out a leading European investment platform with a specialist focus to ensure that my new venture is quickly established as a meaningful player in its target real estate sectors. With a healthy pipeline of transactions, strong investor support for our clear investment strategy and a number of high-profile senior hires reaching conclusion, I look forward to providing further updates in the near future.”
Source: Harrison Street website information as of May 2021 / Media coverage
Source: Harrison Street statement / Media coverage
Disclaimer: Westwind Capital nor its affiliates makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this article and nothing contained in this article shall be relied upon as a promise or representation whether as to the past or future performance.
Note: The registered name for Westwind Capital is ‘DG Westwind Capital LLP’
For further information: FTI Consulting: +44 (0)20 3727 1000 Richard Sunderland, Ellie Sweeney Westwind@fticonsulting.com