PHILADELPHIA-Based on client demand private equity asset-management firm Hamilton Lane is beefing up its real estate platform. The first step for the locally based firm is the hiring of Jerome Gates, a former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney executive, as managing director to head the charge.

"We've been active in the space for years, but real estate has not been part of our core business," said Erik Hirsch, Hamilton Lane's chief investment officer, tells GlobeSt.com. He adds that the new hire search took just over a year to complete.

Hamilton Lane has offices around the world, including Hong Kong, London, Singapore, Tel Aviv and Tokyo, so clients have different geographic preferences. For example, Asian clients might want exposure to more US real estate, while American investors might want to see options in Latin America or Europe.

Founded in 1991, Hamilton Lane has just over $100 billion in assets under management. "As we thoughtfully build our real estate business, we expect to become as well known in this space as we are in private equity,”  Hirsch says.

Gates was managing director of alternative investments and the head of global real estate at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Prior to that he spent 30 years at Citigroup, where he was last managing director of global wealth management and led the global real estate investments team.