ABOUT

About Michael E. Foster - President

Mike has over 35 years of extensive real estate investing experience in 13 countries around the world. His key areas of expertise include building and running major real estate management companies and organizations, managing all types of local operating partners, and achieving exceptional results thru value-added, best-in-class management practices.

Recent Activities:

Since retiring from MS in April 2008, Mike has provided consulting services to various client funds and companies in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, and the U.S.

In addition, Mike serves on several select boards and investment committees of various real estate firms and funds, both in the U.S. and in Europe.

Specifically and of note, in 2009 Mike was the lead in building a new German real estate asset management company in Frankfurt for Morgan Stanley,  with branches in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, with over $7BN of assets under management from day one. In 2009 Mike served as its first CEO and then in 2010/2011 as its Chairman. This company was sold by its shareholder for bank regulatory considerations in 2011.
In 2010, Mike was engaged by a large Paris based Family Office PE Firm, Quilvest, to serve as a Senior Advisor and Member of their then newly established Real Estate Investment Committee. This continues to the present with Quilvest managing over $1.2BN of AUM in Europe, US and Asia. 

Then in 2012, Mike was hired to help liquidate, in a highly controlled manner, the residual real estate investments in France and Italy for the Lehman Brothers Estate when it emerged from bankruptcy.

The portfolio is very diverse and distressed, requiring strong new leadership and proactive asset management for over $1BN of AUM in Milan and Marseille.
building with lights
In 2013, Mike was hired to help turnaround a stalled and broken office development in Ankara, Turkey. The project was 2.5 years behind schedule and almost 100% over budget.Quickly replacing the local Project Manager and the lead management of the General Contractor, today the project is back on schedule with a much stronger controlled budget.

In 2014, Michael was engaged by a highly respected German real estate private equity firm Freo Group, to build a pan-European asset management platform. By 2016 there were asset management companies in Spain and France, with over $600MM in AUM by mid 2018 and soon to be in Italy, UK, and US.
In 2018, Mike was engaged as a Partner and Senior Advisor by DEA Capital Real Estate, Italy, to help them expand their Italy-only investment and asset management business to countries outside of Italy. This began by immediately establishing and staffing companies in Paris and Madrid, where, within the first year, investments grew to over $300MM. A new $1BN Pan-European Value Add Fund is planned to begin fundraising in 4Q20/1Q21.

Mike continues to provide extensive real estate consulting and senior advisory services to a range of clients here in the U.S. and abroad in Europe and Asia.

Historical Bio:

Mike retired from Morgan Stanley as a Managing Director in April 2008.

Mike was the Global Head of Asset Management and the CEO of Morgan Stanley Properties for all of the Morgan Stanley family of real estate funds (MSREF) worldwide.

Mike joined Morgan Stanley in 1994 in order to build the MS real estate asset management organization from its NPL roots in the U.S. RTC crisis in 1991 thru his retirement in 2008.

This organization grew to over $90BN of assets under management with over 200 in-house professionals and over 50 different third-party operating partners in 13 countries throughout the world.

From 1987 to 1994, Mike worked at Goldman Sachs in their Whitehall Fund's Real Estate Asset Management Group, helping to grow that organization and start the joint venture with the J.E. Robert Company (now known as Archon).
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was Director of Operations and Corporate Real Estate at TIE/Communications in Shelton, Connecticut, for five years and prior to that was Vice President of Operations at Citibank in the General Services Group in New York for six years.

Mike received his MBA from Bryant College and is a 1970 graduate of Holy Cross College. He holds a New York State Real Estate brokers license, an SEC Series 7 certification (now in passive status), and the designation of Certified Property Manager (CPM) as an active member of the Institute of Real Estate Management.

He has been active in the Urban Land Institute, MIPIM, Expo Reale, the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the Real Estate Board of New York.

Mike is also a retired Captain in the U.S. Naval Reserves
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