Cushman & Wakefield's CEO of global capital markets and investor services Carlo Barel di Sant’Albano, who testified earlier this year on behalf of the real estate services firm in a legal suit against two of the brokerage's former high-profile capital markets brokers, is expected to depart the brokerage by the end of March.
Barel di Sant’Albano decided to leave the Chicago-based real estate services firm, with a departure date of March 31, after "a long, successful career for his own reasons," a Cushman & Wakefield spokesman told CoStar News. The brokerage is elevating Dan Broderick, Cushman & Wakefield's president of Americas advisory, which includes capital markets and leasing, to helm the capital markets group, the spokesman said.
Barel di Sant’Albano, who joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2011, has played an important role in the firm's lawsuit against its former employees Mike McDonald and Jonathan Napper, who left the real estate services firm to join JLL last fall. On the witness stand in Dallas, Barel di Sant’Albano told a judge overseeing the legal suit based on alleged violations of a noncompete and nonsolicitation agreement with its two former employees that a capital markets deal begins with an initial meeting to form a relationship. McDonald and Napper denied any wrongdoing in court and plan to continue to gather with friends.
It was not immediately clear if Barel di Sant’Albano, who prior to Cushman & Wakefield was CEO of an Italian real estate brokerage firm, would continue to play a part in the legal suit after his departure. But the executive, who lists Palm Beach County, Florida, as his home market on LinkedIn, isn't the only recent departure from Cushman & Wakefield's capital markets team.
Earlier this month, New York's top-ranked capital markets brokers Adam Spies and Douglas Harmon decided to leave the brokerage firm to go work at Newmark. The two brokers, who have worked together for more than two decades, will serve as co-heads of Newmark's U.S. capital markets group, reporting directly to CEO Barry Gosin.
Cushman & Wakefield reported a steep drop in capital markets income last year, according to a recent earnings presentation by the firm's leaders. Cushman & Wakefield joined CBRE and other large commercial real estate services firms in forecasting a rocky next few months of declining revenue amid increasing economic uncertainty before deal activity gradually picks up in the second half of this year.
In all, overall revenue for Cushman & Wakefield declined 14% to $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter, which was partially offset by an 8% increase in property and facilities management income. Net income declined 80% in the fourth quarter to $29 million as revenue from capital markets and leasing declined sharply in the second half of last year.
Last August, Broderick began his new role as president of the Americas advisory, joining the firm's global management team. In his role, Broderick reported to Cushman & Wakefield's President Andrew McDonald. It appears, with Barel di Sant’Albano's departure, he will now take on a global role.
Prior to his promotion last fall, Broderick most recently served as president of the firm's Americas West region, which included the western United States, Canada and Latin America. He was also responsible for the firm's national industrial practice.
He has been with Cushman & Wakefield for nearly a dozen years, holding various leadership positions. Before he took on leadership roles, he was an institutional capital markets broker. Broderick also has a bachelor's degree in economics and psychology from Stanford University.
Meanwhile, McDonald, one of the high-profile brokers in the noncompete legal suit with Cushman & Wakefield, declined to comment directly on Barel di Sant’Albano's departure from the firm. He said he's prepared to see "additional moves by key players in the industry," which tends to happen in a down market as the transaction volume wanes.
"The institutional clientele want fewer service providers that have greater depth and breadth of what they deliver to the clients and this has been evolving well before the pandemic," McDonald told CoStar News.
CoStar News' reporter Randyl Drummer contributed to this article.