Fortius appoints Marc Giuffrida to lead capital raising as firm experiences significant demand from local and offshore investors
- Role to forge new strategic partnerships with wealth managers, family offices, financial advisers and institutional investors
- Expertise in engaging offshore capital to drive the next phase of growth for the group
- Fortius continues to uncover opportunity in underperforming institutional grade property assets
24 March 2021, Sydney: Fortius, a private Australian Investment Management group specialising in real estate and private debt, has today announced the appointment of Marc Giuffrida to the role of Head of Capital and Business Development as the group experiences significant demand from local and international investors.
In this newly created position Mr Giuffrida will lead the capital raising efforts of Fortius and develop new strategic partnerships with sophisticated investors including wealth managers, family offices, financial advisers and institutional investors.
Mr Giuffrida has over 25 years’ experience in the real estate sector across Asia and Australia. Most recently, as Head of International Capital, Australia and New Zealand with CBREs Capital Markets Group, he was responsible for advising on cross-border real estate investments into the Pacific region with Asia’s leading institutional investors, developers and families.
In his previous role at CBRE, he was involved in over AUD$6billion of real estate transactions including AUD$3 billion of offshore capital which was channelled into the Australian and New Zealand markets. Prior to this Mr Giuffrida was the Managing Director, Capital Transactions Asia at Knight Frank.
Sam Sproats, Chief Executive Officer of Fortius said, “We’re very pleased Marc has joined the Fortius Group. We have known Marc for many years and have appreciated his wealth of experience and proven track record, particularly in engaging offshore capital, this will help support and drive the next phase of growth for the group.
“As a firm we also pride ourselves on creating strong relationships with our clients. So as well as the skills and expertise, personality and culture fit is just as important to us, which is another reason why we are delighted to welcome Marc to the team.”
Fortius is one of Australia’s longest established independent specialist property investment managers. Founded by Executive Director Ray Sproats in 1991, the group will be celebrating their 30 year anniversary later this year. During that period the group has focused on investing and managing a diversified portfolio of commercial office, retail, industrial and logistics assets located in Australian capital cities and also regional markets. In 2019, Fortius broadened their offering to include private debt.
Fortius continues to uncover opportunity in underperforming institutional grade property assets, where it can implement its active management style to improve performance and realise better returns for investors. Even with the interruption of Covid, Fortius transacted in more than AUD$550 million of real estate and debt over the last 12 months.
“I’ve watched Ray and Sam establish Fortius as the benchmark for successful real estate investing – they stayed disciplined, found opportunity overlooked by others and delivered for investors. Their experience in solving complex situations through the GFC and recent pandemic has further strengthened their place in the market. I couldn’t pass up the chance to be part of the next chapter of growth,” Mr Giuffrida said.
