Vicinity Centres senior executive James Douglas will join CBRE next month as Senior National Director, Retail Capital Markets, Pacific. The high-profile appointment further strengthens CBRE’s Asia Pacific capabilities in major retail and mixed-use asset transactions following the recent recruitment of industry leader Simon Rooney to run CBRE’s Retail Capital Markets business.

Vicinity Centres is one of Australia’s largest REITs, and a Top 50 ASX listed company, with a market capitalisation of $9.5 billion and assets under management of $26 billion across 63 shopping centres, including the market leading Chadstone in Melbourne’s south-east co-owned by Vicinity Centres.

Douglas has spent the past 12 years with the group, during which time he has been involved in more than $14 billion of property transactions, across all sectors. This includes the $1 billion asset swap between Vicinity and GIC, through which Vicinity acquired an interest in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building.

In his new role, Douglas will be based in Sydney and will report to Rooney.

CBRE’s Pacific Head of Capital Markets, Mark Coster, said; “James’ appointment highlights our ongoing focus on attracting the leading talent in our industry. James will work closely with Simon delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients as the retail market recalibrates and high-quality shopping centre trades continue to occur across both Australia and New Zealand.”

Sydney’s QVB