Ex-RBC banker launches real estate IM with Iris Energy deskmate
Bom Shin and Kevin Ghazi have been busy since they left Australian-born bitcoin miner Iren (née Iris Energy), now capitalised at $US1.6 billion on the Nasdaq.
Street Talk understands the pair – Shin a former energy and infrastructure banker with RBC and Citi who led Iren’s $US1.5 billion Nasdaq listing in 2021 and Ghazi, a real estate investor who oversaw ERS’ $3.8 billion acquisition of Milestone Logistics from Blackstone – have teamed up to launch BKC, a Sydney-based real estate investment manager with a focus on industrial assets including last-mile logistics.
Sources said Shin and Ghazi have just come off a roadshow through Singapore and Hong Kong and are actively looking at $750 million worth of industrial property deals in their pipeline. BKC is expected to tap into offshore institutional and family office networks, although it won’t officially open the raise for at least another six months.
BKC’s pitch to investors is that listed REITs are trading at chunky discounts, forcing some investors to sell at cut-price valuations. As such, they can pick up quality assets at attractive valuations – i.e. buy industrial property at near land value and pick up rental income and potential development for free.
BKC will join emerging players in the sector such as multistorey warehouse pioneer Hale Capital and private equity property player Wentworth Capital.
Shin landed at Iren as head of capital markets in October 2019 after stints at RBC, Citi, Highbury Partnership and King & Wood Mallesons, helping the Roberts brothers build the business from a start-up to leading the IPO. Ghazi showed up at Iren in October 2022 as a director in the capital markets team.
It’s understood the pair have been working on the BKC business concept since finishing up at Iren – Shin late last year and Ghazi in April. Qube Logistics non-executive director Lindsay Ward sits on BKC’s advisory board.
