(Bloomberg)—Carlyle Group Inc. has hired Roger Cozzi as head of real estate credit, as the asset manager expands in the space citing increased opportunities and strong investor interest.
Cozzi, former chief investment officer for commercial real estate debt at AllianceBernstein, will report to Alex Popov, head of Carlyle’s illiquid credit business, in the newly created role, according to an internal memo.
A Carlyle spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the note.
Phil Moore, a managing director on Carlyle’s credit opportunities team in London, will join Cozzi in the build-out, while continuing to invest in opportunistic and illiquid credit, according to the memo. Moore has been leading real estate deals within illiquid credit since joining Carlyle in 2018.
“Given the increase in opportunities we’re seeing and given growing investor interest in this asset class, we believe now is the right time for us to pursue a dedicated strategy focused specifically on this area,” Mark Jenkins, Carlyle’s head of global credit, said in the memo. The firm’s credit platform has invested about $1 billion in real estate credit since 2017.
Before AllianceBernstein, Cozzi served in real estate finance roles at Gramercy Capital Corp. He also previously worked at Fortress Investment Group, Starwood Capital Group and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Moore was a managing director at HPS Investment Partners focused on real estate investment in Europe, according to Carlyle’s website.
Under Jenkins, Carlyle invests across liquid, illiquid and real asset credit strategies with $56 billion in assets under management globally, according to the firm’s website.
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