Savills wins Newmark Squash Tournament; Knight Frank names private capital lead; Fusion promotes

Newmark organised and sponsored the annual inter-company squash tournament, with Chris Dennis, the executive vice-president, labelling the quality of play at the finals as "superb". Savills won its third, second and first string matches to bring home the silverware, while JLL clinched the plate competition.

The winning finalists from Savills were Dominic Curtis, Milo Jackson-Brown and Charles Major, who played Knight Frank's Ed Hopkinson-Woolley, James Maskey and Michael Stewart. Newmark were JLL's opposition in the plate competition, with all matches played at Pall Mall's Royal Automobile Club in London.

Twenty teams entered the tournament which was founded by Allsop in the early 70s. Reflecting on the success of this year's tournament, Dennis said: "The quality of squash on show was superb, but the match that will live long in the memory was the third string, where Dom and Ed played out a thrilling five games."

Entries for next year's tournament will open in September, with any company dealing in property encourage to assemble a team for the free-to-enter competition.

Knight Frank has named Sarah May-Brown as head of global private capital, saying the appointment shows its commitment to strengthening its position as the "leading adviser to private clients in the real estate sector, spanning both residential and commercial markets". May-Brown brings two decades of experience with KF, having started her career in the international residential team. She later spent eight years in the Gulf, where she established the Middle East private wealth team. May-Brown is a partner in the private office, a team dedicated to providing cross-border transactions for private clients. She sits on the residential board and the UK strategy board.

Student accommodation developer Fusion Group has promoted André Ferdinand to projects director and appointed him to its Board. Since joining in 2022, the firm said Ferdinand has been integral in starting construction on major purpose-built student accommodation projects in Nottingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, totalling more than 1,400 beds. He has also led work to secure planning in London and Loughborough for 1,100 beds and 78 affordable homes. Ferdinand will help lead Fusion’s pipeline and build partnerships across the supply chain to support future growth in co-living and other living sectors in his expanded role.

Rory Morrison is PGIM Real Estate's new head of core strategies who will lead its European platform. Morrison will be based in London and report to Sebastiano Ferrante, head of Europe. The recruit will be responsible for the strategic and operational oversight of PGIM Real Estate's European core, European core-plus and UK affordable housing strategies, working closely with the existing portfolio management teams. He will also be responsible for supporting the business development teams in raising funds for these key strategies. He has more than 30 years' experience in the industry and worked at Invesco Real Estate for 24 years.

JP Morgan Asset Management has appointed Chad Tredway as global head of real estate. He will oversee real estate operations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The asset management arm of the US banking giant said Tredway has a proven track record of managing real estate assets for retail and institutional clients. He previously held senior roles in JP Morgan's real estate banking and commercial lending teams, before leaving to found Trio Investment Group, a boutique real estate investment management firm. He rejoined JP Morgan in 2024, when it bought Trio Investment Group. The business manages more than $79 billion in real estate assets globally.

OBI co-founder and managing director Will Lewis says the rebranding of Warrington-based BE Group to OBI after its acquisition of the business in October "signifies our commitment to collaboration, combined resources, and a shared dedication to our client-focused property services". OBI’s Warrington-based property team will be opening a new office at Birchwood Park’s recently refurbished Chadwick House this month. OBI originally purchased BE’s agency services, which account for circa 80% of the accommodation transacted across the Warrington office market. BE Group calls itself the largest brokerage and agency firm in the Warrington region.