CBRE Romania recruits new Head of Investment Properties

CBRE continues its rapid development and strengthens its Romanian management team with the recruitment of Mihai Patrulescu to lead the Investment Properties department.

With a strong financial background, Mihai Patrulescu brings a different approach, having experience in complex projects, financial analysis and project management for large real estate portfolio deals.

“Real estate market is witnessing an unprecedented transformation and the teams we build now will make the difference tomorrow. Mihai is a highly appreciated new talent and I personally value his drive. In my 20 years of real estate experience, good energy has always proved to be a key element for performant teams, and I am confident that Mihai will be an important asset for CBRE,” commented Razvan Iorgu, Managing Director, CBRE Romania.

“In the last three years, Romania attracted less than 5 percent of the total CEE investment volumes, similar to Slovakia, while markets such as Hungary and Poland generated between 20 and 40 percent of the total volume. I strongly believe this indicates mispricing of risk. With a new approach, using know-how from finance and economics, combined with CBRE’s deep understanding of the real estate market across all sectors, I am confident that we will soon attract new demand from major investors,” said Mihai Patrulescu, Head of Investment Properties, CBRE Romania.

Mihai Patrulescu is replacing Gijs Klomp, who has occupied the role of Head of Investment Properties in the past two years. Recently, Gijs has chosen to take the opportunity offered by CTP, top 5 European industrial property developer, where he will act as Head of Business Development.

Based on CBRE recent survey, Romanian Investment Sentiment Survey, no matter the type of property, location remains one of the main criteria for investors when choosing what should be added to their portfolio. The same survey revealed that offices remain the most sought-after product by investors, but also highlighted an increase in interest in the Industrial sector in terms of future investments.

“Commercial real estate investment volumes in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) reached €13 billion in 2020 and we expect a gradual recovery with investment volumes of one-digit growth this year. 2021 rather taking shape as a year of laying the foundations for very complex transactions across the CEE region with the result expected in 2022. The close collaboration between regional teams is now more important than ever,” said Andreas Ridder, Managing Director Central & Eastern Europe at CBRE.