International real estate giant CBRE has recruited prominent agribusiness asset manager David Goodfellow to head its Australian and New Zealand agricultural capital markets division following last year's departure of Danny Thomas.
Mr Goodfellow's past jobs have included leading Macquarie Bank's Paraway Pastoral Company, Chinese rural property group Rifa Salutary, Canadian pension fund farmland investor AustOn Corporation and Elders' branch network business.
For the past year he has focused on establishing the Clearbrook asset management group which has targeted local and offshore capital to begin building a rural property portfolio, initially based on Victoria's Western District.
Clearbrook is set to appoint a managing director when Melbourne-based Mr Goodfellow joins CBRE in February, although he will remain group chairman.
CBRE capital markets head Mark Coster described his new recruit as a dynamic leader with a deep understanding of agriculture, negotiating complex transactions and building effective sales teams.
"More than ever, our clients are focused on service providers who have the platform and capabilities to connect to local and international capital," he said.
CBRE's Australia and NZ chief executive officer Phil Rowland said the company's decision to hire Mr Goodfellow highlighted it's commitment to the economically valuable farm sector and its focus on "cementing our position as the region's market agribusiness property services leader".
Past departures
CBRE saw several notable agribusiness staff departures last year, including agents Col Medway, Tim Corcoran and Ian Robertson, who teamed with then CBRE chairman and former Hassad Australia boss John McKillop and Melbourne real estate agent Peter Sagar, establishing Land, Agribusiness, Water and Development (LAWD) .
Former CBRE agribusiness boss Mr Thomas, who resigned in September after eight years in the job, is also a past business partner with Mr Sagar.
He is now focused on building a former dairy property portfolio on the NSW-Victorian border running Wagyu beef cattle, backed by former CBRE client and prominent West Australian graingrower John Nicoletti.
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