Former KBS Capital Markets Execs Form New Commercial RE Firm

The Pacific Oak Companies will work together to facilitate the acquisition, disposition and management of commercial real estate and commercial real estate related investment products.

Irvine, CA

IRVINE, CA—Two of the co-founders of KBS Capital Advisors— Keith Hall and Peter McMillan III—have formed Pacific Oak Companies, a new national commercial real estate investment firm here.

The newly formed firm, Pacific Oak Companies will be comprised of Pacific Oak Capital Advisors LLC, Pacific Oak Capital Markets Group LLC, and Pacific Oak Holdings LLC.

Hall and McMillan are joined by a number of former KBS Capital executives, including: Michael “Mick” Manning, who will serve as president and CEO; Hans Henselman, chief operating officer; Jeff Kremin, national sales manager; and Lee Bastidas and Emily Gallagher, who will oversee key accounts throughout the independent broker-dealer and registered investment advisor channels.

The Pacific Oak Cos. will work together to facilitate the acquisition, disposition and management of commercial real estate and commercial real estate related investment products. The firms will also distribute commercial real estate financial products. Investment offerings may include a perpetual life real estate investment trust, private placements including tax-advantaged Delaware statutory trusts (DSTs), a single-family rental housing REIT, qualified opportunity zone funds (QOZFs), private equity and other value-add alternative investment products.

“There are a host of exciting opportunities in the thriving alternative investments arena,” says Hall. “Pacific Oak will leverage our well-established relationships and industry expertise to continue to deliver these opportunities to financial advisors and their clients throughout the United States. Pacific Oak is dedicated to the independent broker-dealer channel, and when an advisor is in need of value-add products, we want to provide the solution.”

Prior to co-founding KBS Capital Advisors in 2005, Hall served as a managing director with Credit Suisse First Boston, where he managed distribution strategy and business development for the Principal Transaction Group’s real estate securities portfolio. In this capacity, his two primary business unit responsibilities were mezzanine lending and commercial real estate development. Before joining CS First Boston in 1996, he served as a director in the real estate products group at Nomura Securities. He was responsible for the company’s distribution and trading of fixed-income commercial mortgage-backed securities. Hall spent the 1980s as a senior vice president in the high-yield department of Drexel Burnham Lambert’s Beverly Hills, CA office where he was responsible for the distribution and trading of the group’s high-yield real estate securities.

McMillan previously served as the executive vice president and chief investment officer of SunAmerica Investments, Inc., which was later acquired by AIG. As CIO, he was responsible for more than $75 billion in assets, including residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, public and private investment-grade and non-investment-grade corporate bonds and commercial mortgage loans and real estate investments. Before joining SunAmerica in 1989, he served as assistant vice president for Aetna Life Insurance and Annuity Co. with responsibility for the company’s $6-billion fixed-income portfolios.