While its competitors are contracting, property services leader Savills is bucking the trend and growing, with new commercial opportunities being met by several key leadership appointments.
To support the company’s growth there is new leadership, with Paul Roberts being named chief executive for New Zealand and Australia and bringing a sharpened focus on heavily supporting and investing in the New Zealand office.
Roberts is leading Savills’ strategy, operations, and performance in the region and working closely with his counterparts across Asia-Pacific and Savills’ global leadership in the UK to create stronger integration and collaboration across the business. With more than 20 years’ experience across institutional real estate, capital markets, and advisory, Roberts brings a strong track record of commercial leadership and transaction execution.
Roberts said: “There is a strong appetite from our Apac and global leadership to invest in the business here in New Zealand. We are adding to our senior and specialist team and focusing on connectivity, strategic alignment, and commercial opportunity across the region following a period of rapid growth and transformation … There is especially notable growth in the Christchurch office, which is the largest it has ever been, to support the post-rebuild commercial and industrial property economy in the Canterbury region.”
In previously held roles, Roberts worked alongside some of the largest investors and property owners in the region, having been involved in high-value, highly complex deals, many of which have shaped major markets, including transactions ranging from $630 million to $1.3 billion in Sydney and the $420m Blue Tower & The Annex deal in Brisbane.
Adding further strength to the agency’s strategic ambitions in New Zealand, Ben Schubert has been appointed national head of capital transactions and advisory. With more than two decades of experience and career transaction volumes exceeding $15b, Schubert brings to his New Zealand role strong connectively to capital in Australia and Apac, and key funding and capital advisory relationships internationally through his Sydney-based global cross-border teams. Schubert has been integral in brokering multiple deals in Sydney and Melbourne.
Having held previous roles with Knight Frank and the GPT Group, Schubert has an impressive track record leading some of the country’s most high-profile and sophisticated office transactions and navigating evolving market conditions to deliver exceptional outcomes for his clients.
Savills’ expansion is supported by local directors with deep market knowledge: James Copson, with global asset management experience including data centres; Merv Davies, with more than 30 years in commercial sales in Christchurch and the South Island; and Alex Hopkinson, who strengthens industrial sales in Auckland, backed by experience at international firms.
Copson has been appointed to the role of director for asset management, based in the Auckland office. Copson has more than 10 years’ experience in commercial real estate (retail, office, and industrial, and alternatives in the living sector and data centres) and asset management, including managing institutional and private portfolios across Europe and New Zealand in major businesses.
By bringing in Copson’s global experience and client-side expertise, Savills is welcoming a senior executive who can operate from all aspects of a client’s business. Additionally, he has experience in data centre management, which positions the business to enhance its capabilities as interest in data centres spikes. More generally, Copson is focused on growing the agency’s asset management services across New Zealand and providing strategic management to drive performance on client assets including day to day operations of property management, facilities management, health and safety, and building compliance, and financial reporting.
Davies has been appointed as director of commercial sales in Christchurch. As a highly experienced property professional with more than 30 years in commercial and industrial investment sales and sales management, Davies has built strong relationships in the Christchurch and wider South Island property markets and is a trusted adviser to many significant clients, including leading property groups and asset owners, around the country.
Davies has led multiple significant transactions in … and his reputation as a negotiator and his ability to identify opportunities, secure capital, and get deals done are second to none.
Hopkinson has been appointed director of industrial based in Auckland. Hopkinson has deep experience in industrial sales, leasing, and logistics from nearly a decade with CBRE in senior roles, and he previously served in industrial brokerage at JLL (Auckland) and as an investment analyst at Lighthaven Capital Management LLC (San Francisco).
Managing director of Savills New Zealand and a board director of Savills Australia, Ryan Geddes, said: “This suite of appointments reflects our intent as a company to grow revenue, skills, and capacity while expanding our geographical presence across New Zealand – in particular, a presence in Wellington and Queenstown, with a focus on the high-end residential market. This aligns with recent policy changes enabling foreign buyers to purchase or build homes with a value of $5m or more, of which there are a significant number in the Queenstown district.”
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