Simon Rooney, arguably Australia’s leading Capital Markets broker, will join CBRE as Executive Managing Director, Retail Investments. Rooney is well known for the volume of retail transactions he has executed totalling more than $20 billion over his career which include the recent sales of Brisbane’s Indooroopilly shopping centre, Westfield Eastgardens in Sydney and the Vicinity Centres portfolio.
Rooney is joining CBRE on the 1 August, after 25 years at JLL, where he carved a niche as the market leader in institutional retail transactions and ranked as one of the firm’s top three brokers globally.
CBRE Pacific President & CEO Phil Rowland said Rooney’s appointment highlighted the company’s focus on securing leading market talent to ensure the ongoing delivery of exceptional client outcomes.
“Having an executive of Simon’s calibre join CBRE highlights our focus on securing the top talent in our industry to ensure we are delivering market leading results for our clients. Simon’s appointment adds further firepower to our Capital Markets platform given his extensive connections to local and global capital, strengthening our reach and ability to deliver superior outcomes across the retail spectrum.” Rowland said.
Rooney has also been instrumental in significant mixed-use transactions such as 80 Collins Street in Melbourne and the MLC Centre and Wynyard Place in Sydney.
Earlier this year, Rooney with JLL released its annual Australian Shopping Centre Investment Review and Outlook. The report outlines the trends of the market. Rooney said “As the retail and shopping centre industries continue to evolve, owners, primarily AREITs, are narrowing their strategies. They are becoming more focused and specialised to extract value and maximize returns. In 2019, we expect to see them focus on smaller, more refined, portfolios of retail assets to maximise returns.”