Bill Green, who headed Wachovia’s U.S. commercial real estate debt business for several years and most recently oversaw its European efforts, has left the bank to take a position at Starwood Capital Group. Green will fill a newly created post where he will be in charge of the origination and acquisition of whole loans, bonds and other commercial real estate debt.
Green’s hire represents a renewed emphasis on the firm’s finance business. “This is not a new business for Starwood,” a spokesman said. Green, who briefly moved to London, spent only three or four months in the U.K. before accepting the post at Starwood. He will be relocating to Greenwich, where Starwood is based. Green, who has already started at Starwood, did not return calls.
The move raised some eyebrows on Wall Street, with market participants noting that Wachovia has trimmed its CMBS staff in recent weeks and speculated that Green’s departure may be in part related to cutbacks at the firm. Still, Green has a great rolodex and is very well known in the industry and would fit well at Starwood, others noted.
At Wachovia, Maitland Bruce, the former head of structured finance Europe, is filling Green’s position as head of Real Estate Finance Europe.