Erik Stabler – Junior Investment Manager Transactions

 

 

"When I talk to friends and former fellow students about current projects at work, I am continuously reminded about how extraordinary my start in professional life is. From the very beginning, working at CR was not just a job, but literally also an investment in the future. Because at Commerz Real, the personal 'real impact' is not a question of age: young talents are involved in significant transactions and unique project developments from day one and can thus assume responsibility for comparatively large investment volumes very early on. To put it into perspective: the minimum volume of projects at CR is around 20 to 30 million euros, which for other industry representatives are already rather large projects in which the junior staff may not necessarily be able to participate.  

In 2019, having worked for CR for not even one year, our current CEO and then transaction manager, Henning Koch, together with his deal team, set an incredible track record in transaction business. In addition to the mega deal of the year with the “Millennium Portfolio”, consisting of 49 office, residential and retail properties in German metropolises, Tucherpark was also acquired as a huge development quarter in Munich for our open-ended real estate fund hausInvest. Such deals don't happen often. I was still a dual student at the time and I sat in the same office with the two (at the time still) trainees Alex and Matti, following the deals and we simply felt this “deal fever” in the air – an incredibly great experience, coupled with a sense of success and a lot of pride. That’s exactly what I mean by 'real impact'. 


Three years later, in the middle of the traineeship, was the next highlight of my professional career – after consulting with our new transaction manager, Maja Procz, I took over the main responsibility for the Logistics market area. No investments were made in logistics for around six years because the price level was too overheated and there was a different strategic focus. We had just talked about my new task and the first logistics deal was about to be made. In Hockenheim, we acquired a huge logistics area and thus made a comeback in this asset class – and I was able to manage the deal myself, of course with the support of colleagues with many years of experience. This is also what makes my work so special: although I am at the wheel and can take on an unbelievable amount of responsibility, at the same time experienced colleagues set the guidelines and never leave you alone. It also helps if, as a 20-year-old beginner, you are not sitting by yourself across the table from a senior or lawyer partner of the other side in a purchase contract negotiation 😉
 

The next topic that I am going to work on is already here today – combining logistics projects with renewable energies. This means that my learning curve, which is already incredibly steep, will become even steeper. For all young professionals, I can therefore strongly recommend CR to others: not only can you make great strides here in terms of content, but working with the industry experts employed at CR and in a business environment with the most renowned business partners is absolutely valuable and a real highlight.