Chris Tynan, who has led Blackstone’s Australian property operations for a decade, is leaving the role after presiding over some of the country’s largest real estate deals.
Tynan’s tenure included the $24 billion acquisition of data centre operator AirTrunk alongside Canada’s CPPIB – Blackstone’s largest Australian deal – as well as the $8.9 billion buyout of Crown Resorts.
A third major acquisition, the $1.2 billion purchase of Hamilton Island from the Oatley family, is expected to finalise within days.
According to the AFR, under Chris’s leadership, Blackstone’s Australian real estate assets under management grew from around $5 billion to approximately $50 billion.
Taro Squires, currently a managing director in Blackstone’s Tokyo-based real estate group, will take over from 1 July.
Chris will remain at Blackstone in a senior executive advisory role until at least year’s end.
Taro, a Queenslander, has spent much of his career in asset management and investment banking across Asia.
His previous roles include five years as a founding member of HJ Asset Management in Tokyo, 11 years with Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Singapore, and positions at Morgan Stanley Japan and Itochu Corporation.
During Chris’s decade at the helm, Blackstone pursued what it calls “alternative” real estate investments – student accommodation, build-to-rent housing, self-storage, data centres and hospitality – rather than traditional office, retail and logistics assets.
Key deals included investments in the Student One portfolio, the Fort Knox self-storage business, and the absorption of the former Valad property platform.
The Blackstone approach of “build it, fix it, sell it” also drove a series of high-turnover deals.
The $3.8 billion Milestone logistics portfolio was accumulated and sold.
A $3 billion mall portfolio, once earmarked for a float, has been progressively divested. And of three office towers near Westfield Sydney purchased for $1.5 billion in 2019, two have been sold with the third under consideration.
The Crown acquisition has presented challenges. Blackstone faced the immediate task of regaining casino licences in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth – since accomplished – but has since undertaken a major overhaul of Crown’s facilities amid a softer operating environment for the sector.
Taro’s priorities will include turning around Crown’s performance and managing AirTrunk’s growth while navigating global constraints on energy, water and land use affecting data centre operators.