Savanna appoints Oates as analyst

According to Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, it has appointed Justin Oates, formerly of Eastdil Secured, as an analyst. In his new position, Oates will be responsible for acquisitions and asset management, including underwriting and due diligence, financial modeling, and deal structuring. Oates joins Savanna from the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Eastdil Secured in New York, where he held the position of Analyst. During his time at Eastdil Secured, Oates worked on over $5 billion in real estate transactions, including capital markets offerings for publicly traded REITs, portfolio sales, and advisory assignments for private and public real estate companies. Oates worked on over 20 closed transactions and played an instrumental role in several potential ongoing mergers and IPOs. "Justin brings valuable experience and a proven track record of success in acquisition of both commercial and residential real estate. He is a perfect fit for our company as we continue to add to our growing portfolio. We are very pleased to have Justin join the Savanna team," said Nicholas Bienstock, managing partner of Savanna. Oates received an MS in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and a BS in Economics from Boston College, and currently serves on the Graduate Alumni Board at the McIntire School of Commerce. Formed in 1992, Savanna is an institutional real estate private equity firm and asset management company based in New York City and run by Managing Partners Chris Schlank and Nick Bienstock. The firm pursues opportunistic real estate equity and debt asset investments throughout the northeastern United States, focusing on directly owning and operating properties in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metro area. The firm's equity investments target superior risk-adjusted returns by adding value through asset management and/or property development, redevelopment, and repositioning. Savanna also selectively invests in real estate debt instruments that have the potential to generate equity-like returns, including preferred equity instruments, high yield bridge and mezzanine loans, and B-notes. Since inception, Savanna has invested more than $2.6 billion in total capital across 17.3 million square feet of real property across multiple asset classes and locations, representing $3.8 billion in total capitalization.