CBRE Group, Inc. is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, with 2020 revenues of $23.8 billion and more than 100,000 employees (excluding affiliate offices). CBRE has been included on the Fortune 500 since 2008, ranking #128 in 2020. It also has been voted the industry’s top brand by the Lipsey Company for 20 consecutive years, and has been named one of Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” for nine years in a row, including being ranked number one in the real estate sector in 2021, for the third consecutive year. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CBRE.”
CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services.
CBRE Global Investors, combined with CBRE Clarion Securities and CBRE Caledon, is one of the world’s leading real asset investment managers with $122.7 billion in assets under management.
Built up over more than 40 years, our unparalleled platform is focused on real assets, giving our institutional clients access to real estate and infrastructure in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Our clients benefit from a complete range of investment solutions including equity and debt, direct and indirect, and listed and unlisted strategies.
Trammell Crow Company, founded in Dallas, Texas in 1948, is one of the nation’s oldest and most prolific developers of, and investors in, commercial real estate.The CBRE Global Investors and Trammell Crow Company platforms make up the Real Estate Investments division of CBRE Group.
The Real Estate Investments division is led by
Mike Lafitte, Global CEO, Real Estate Investments.
Regularly released content on the state of the real estate and infrastructure industry are produced by our subject matter experts and shared on their blogs. A selection of them can be found below.
Our global real estate strategies are managed with the goal of delivering attractive long-term risk-adjusted returns. Our investment approach combines fundamental market knowledge and listed market expertise with a disciplined and systematic investment approach. We seek to add-value through top-down research-driven portfolio design and bottom-up securities selection based on intensive and proprietary fundamental company analysis.
Our global strategies invest primarily in the developed markets of North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific but may make opportunistic investments in emerging market economies. We maintain diversified exposure to commercial real estate sectors including office, retail, industrial, residential, healthcare, and hotel properties.
Our flagship global strategy which provides clients with the broadest and most diversified exposure to the world’s real estate markets. The strategy invests in both REITs which primarily own and operate commercial real estate as well as real estate operating companies (REOCs) which generate a higher percentage of revenue from real estate development activities. Investors may access this strategy through a separate account, a pooled fund, a collective investment trust (CIT), or through a mutual fund and variable annuity products.
November 2001
FTSE EPRA NAREIT Developed Index
The strategy invests primarily in global REITs and real estate companies that generate a majority of the revenue from lease income received from the ownership and operation of commercial real estate properties. The strategy’s emphasis on real estate owners and operators with consistent and visible cash flows may enhance portfolio yield and provide attractive total returns with less risk over the long-term. This strategy is available through a separate account and through a fund.
October 2005
FTSE EPRA NAREIT Developed Rental Index
Ritson Ferguson
Co-CIO – Listed Real Assets Strategies
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Ritson Ferguson
Co-CIO – Listed Real Assets Strategies
Ritson Ferguson is Co-CIO of the firm’s real assets securities division, CBRE Clarion Securities. He is a member of the CBRE Global Investors Executive Committee and Global Investment Committee and the CBRE Clarion and CBRE Caledon boards.
Between 2015 and 2019, Mr. Ferguson served in global roles for CBRE Global Investors, first as Global CIO and then as Global CEO. During his tenure as Global CEO of the firm, Mr. Ferguson accomplished several key initiatives, including the acquisition of Caledon Capital Management, now CBRE Caledon.
Prior to joining CBRE Global Investors, Mr. Ferguson was on the global management committee of ING Real Estate Investment Management. He was also one of the founding principals who formed the predecessor entity to CBRE Clarion Securities. Earlier in his real estate career, Mr. Ferguson worked at K.S. Sweet Associates and Trammell Crow Company. He was also a consultant at Bain & Company and a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Ferguson began his real estate career in 1986.
Mr. Ferguson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Duke University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He is active in many real estate organizations (including PREA, EPRA, APREA and NAREIT) and is a CFA charter holder.
Joseph Smith
Co-CIO – Listed Real Assets Strategies
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Joseph Smith
Co-CIO – Listed Real Assets Strategies
Joseph Smith is Co-CIO of the firm’s real assets securities division, CBRE Clarion Securities. He is a member of the CBRE Global Investors Executive Committee and Global Investment Committee. Mr. Smith is the chair of the firm’s Management Committee and is co-leader of the U.S. real estate securities team.
Mr. Smith joined CBRE Clarion Securities’ predecessor firm in 1997. Prior to that, Mr. Smith worked in various management and analyst positions in the real estate industry including positions at Alex Brown & Sons, PaineWebber and Radnor Advisors. Mr. Smith began his career in the real estate industry in 1990.
Mr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He is active in the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and is a CFA charter holder.
Kenneth S. Weinberg, CFA
Senior Global Portfolio Manager, CBRE Clarion
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Kenneth S. Weinberg, CFA
Senior Global Portfolio Manager, CBRE Clarion
Kenneth Weinberg is a Senior Global Portfolio Manager, a member of CBRE Clarion Securities’ Global Investment Policy Committee, and co-leader of the U.S. real estate securities research team.
Mr. Weinberg joined CBRE Clarion Securities’ predecessor firm in 2004. Prior to that, Mr. Weinberg worked in various management and analyst positions in the real estate industry including positions with Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc. and Prudential Real Estate Investors. Mr. Weinberg has over 27 years of real estate investment management experience.
Mr. Weinberg earned an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Science from Duke University. He is active in NAREIT, and is a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia, and the CFA Institute.
Justin Pica
Principal, Portfolio Manager
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Justin Pica
Principal, Portfolio Manager
Justin Pica is a Regional Portfolio Manager and leader of the Asia Pacific real estate research team. In addition, Mr. Pica has oversight of the Sydney based office.
Mr. Pica joined CBRE Clarion Securities’ predecessor firm in 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Pica worked in various research and analyst positions at ING Investment Management and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He has over 21 years of real estate industry experience.
Mr. Pica earned an MAPF from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Business from Swinburne University. Justin is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
Brian Kinsella
Vice President
Institutional Clients and Consultants
[email protected]
Joseph Lavin, CIMA
Senior Vice President
Intermediary Channel and Sub-advisory
[email protected]