(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc.’s real estate trust for wealthy individuals said Wesley LePatner will become chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1.
LePatner, currently chief operating officer at Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, will succeed Frank Cohen, who will retire after nearly 30 years at Blackstone, the firm said in a statement Thursday.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have a colleague of Wesley’s caliber, who has been intimately involved with BREIT since inception,” Kathleen McCarthy and Nadeem Meghji, global co-heads of Blackstone Real Estate, said in the statement. “Wesley will seamlessly step in at a time when real estate values have begun to recover.”
Real estate trusts have come under pressure as high interest rates weigh on property values. BREIT, which seeks out growing sectors such as data centers and student dorms, has faced scrutiny from investors over how it will weather the downturn.
LePatner initially joined Blackstone in 2014 to spearhead the creation of its Core+ business. Cohen will continue as chairman of BREIT.
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