Mipim boss looks for the sunny side of the street
"The world is changing, the market is rapidly changing as well, and there is no reason why an event like Mipim shouldn't be changing," Nicolas Boffi, Mipim director and jazz musician, says.
Speaking to CoStar News on the latest episode of the Top CREdentials podcast, Boffi, who was appointed in September from Arcadis, says his number one priority for the event is to "ease business" for those attending.
He believes his own experience of the Cannes event will help him and his team to improve the conference in the years to come, with his five-year plan including an ambition to make it more of a city-wide meeting.
Ahead of 9 March, Boffi wants investors, and the conference as a whole, to find the sunny side of the street, in the words of one of his favourite jazz standards. "I think we are going to have a very good edition in 2026. Maybe for the industry that can be seen as quite a surprise because the mood is not totally a very good mood because the crisis is still there.
"But, at the same time, people understand that they need to move to other opportunities, to other asset classes and that the market is transitioning towards other, more rewarding submarkets and sectors. This is why Mipim is going to be, this year, all about new sectors, new things and how to be more resilient after two or three years of waiting for the market to start again."
Panattoni hands dual UK-France role to senior figure
Industrial property giant Panattoni has expanded the role of Matthew Byrom, who becomes managing partner for France as well as the UK. Since launching the UK platform in 2017, Byrom has led the growth of the division to become the country's largest industrial and logistics speculative developer. He will now oversee Panattoni’s operations in France, working closely with our established French platform. The company said: "This appointment reflects Panattoni’s continued international growth and our ambition to strengthen coordination across market, delivering consistent performance for our capital partners, customers, and stakeholders."
BNP Paribas appoints new CEO and executive president
BNP Paribas Real Estate has changed its leadership with Jean-Maxime Jouis becoming chief executive and Thierry Laroue-Pont stepping into the role of executive chairman. Laroue-Pont retains the operational management of the property development business line, while Jouis is in charge of the strategic and operational management of BNP Paribas Real Estate, including the advisory and property management businesses, which he took responsibility of at the beginning of last year. Molka Langar, Laurent Boucher and Csongor Csukas are appointed as deputy chief executives by the company.
Blackstone duo recruited by Greykite in Europe
Greykite has recruited two "high-calibre" professionals from Blackstone, Baptiste Meurisse and Silvia Cadau, who will join the firm in April and March and have more than 12 years of European real estate experience combined. Meurisse was a principal at Blackstone, where he spent seven years on the real estate asset management team. His primary focus was on Blackstone’s residential portfolio companies in Spain and Denmark. Cadau was a senior associate at Blackstone, spending five years on the real estate acquisitions team. In that role she focused on acquisitions in the pan-European industrial sector. Greykite said she will support the sourcing, underwriting and implementation of new investment strategies.
Colliers hires London-based living capital markets director
Colliers has appointed Edmund Hendry as a director in its living capital markets team, who started his real estate career at the company 14 years ago. Hendry began his career at Colliers in 2012 as a graduate, before moving to Cluttons' investment and fund management team as a surveyor in 2014. He then worked for BNP Paribas Real Estate as an associate director in its international investment team, before switching to Cushman & Wakefield in 2021, where he was most recently a partner in its student accommodation capital markets team. Hendry returns to Colliers with more than a decade of experience and will be based in London.
Bidwells' energy and climate team recruits senior trio
Bidwells has expanded its energy and climate service with three senior appointments across the UK including Edoardo Ruggeri, Helen Gray and Ross McLaren. Ruggeri has joined from CBRE as an associate in the energy and renewables team to lead a "behind-the-meter renewables" service line for buildings, operations and portfolios with a wide range of energy demands. Gray becomes a partner in energy and renewables, based in Scotland. She moves from Danish renewables giant Ørsted, where she was senior land and property manager. Ross McLaren joins as an associate in energy and renewables from international renewables developer Boralex.
Vail Williams appoints national head of building consultancy
Vail Williams has promoted partner Chris Davies to national head of building consultancy and made Holly Vos a partner in the same team. Davies takes over from partner Jeremy Firth, who led the discipline for six years and remains with the firm as part of the building consultancy team. Davies leads a team of more than 20 chartered building surveyors and project managers across the UK and has 30 years’ experience. Vos, who joined Vail Williams in 2021 after working in the City, leads the building consultancy team in Surrey and is based in Woking. She is experienced in providing building consultancy services to investors, landlords and occupiers.