Colliers International expands leading high-value sales team Auckland, April

This is a supplied media release.

New Zealand’s leading high-value commercial property team is building on its best-ever year of sales with the strategic hire of a top Australian broker.

Industrial sales and leasing expert Blair Peterken has been appointed to Colliers International’s Capital Markets team, which last year brokered a record $1.6 billion of transactions.

Peterken comes to the role after more than a decade in Australia’s highly competitive commercial property sector, most recently as the head of JLL’s South Sydney office.

Born and educated in Auckland, he returns to New Zealand with a solid track record of multi-million dollar transactions.

Colliers International Capital Markets National Director Peter Herdson says he is thrilled to have a broker of Peterken’s calibre on the team.

“We’ve been looking for an energetic new talent to help grow our business, but we also needed someone with the maturity and experience to build and maintain close relationships with top national and multinational clients,” Herdson says.

“Blair is a natural fit. He has an enviable track record, and it’s clear he’s got what it takes.”

Peterken says the offer to work for Colliers International was too good to refuse.

“I’m incredibly excited to join Colliers International’s top-performing New Zealand business unit,” he says.

“A big part of my role will involve drawing on my strong relationships and extensive contacts in Australia. There’s growing interest in New Zealand’s commercial property market among high-level Australian investors, so this is a huge opportunity for the Capital Markets team.

“I’m also looking forward to building new relationships. I pride myself on providing a personal, hands-on approach to understanding what clients want to achieve.”

Peterken is regarded as one of the most senior and successful agents in the Sydney market.

He spent seven years at CBRE’s South Sydney office, mostly as the head of the industrial team, until he was head hunted to run JLL’s South Sydney office in 2013.

Under Peterken’s leadership, JLL grew from third to first in the South Sydney market in both leasing and sales. Last year, he was JLL’s highest fee earner across the Australian industrial business.

Peterken’s top transaction to date was the 2014 sale of a 4.9ha business park in Rosebery, South Sydney, for A$190 million.

His two biggest leases were the single largest leasing transactions in South Sydney in their respective years. In 2011, he leased a Goodman-developed, 12,400sq m warehouse and office in Mascot to logistics company Toll, and last year, he leased a Meriton-owned 22,000sq m site in Pagewood to WSI Logistics.

Among his top multinational clients is Exxon Mobil, which recently appointed him to sell its 5.7ha industrial site – the largest in South Sydney.

Colliers International’s six-strong Capital Markets team is the New Zealand leader in high-value, multi-million transactions, with many of its deals breaking local records.

Last year, the team completed the largest agency sale in New Zealand – the $445m sale of Westfield’s Wellington and Hamilton shopping centres on behalf of Scentre Group.

The team also brokered the largest office sale in New Zealand – the $210m sale of the Millennium Business Centre in Greenlane, Auckland.