Raymond Mikulich, co-head of real estate at Lehman Brothers with Mark Walsh, is to leave at the end of the year. Mikulich and Walsh manage one of Wall Street’s best-performing real estate funds, whose investments include the Chrysler building and 1 Times Square. It is expected that Walsh will become sole head.
The official explanation for Mikulich’s departure is retirement after 25 years of service. However, there is speculation that he will follow the example of other real estate executives who left various banks to set up their own firms.
Several ex-Lehman bankers have gone on to develop highly successful new roles, most notably Stephen Schwarzman, now chairman and chief executive of the Blackstone Group, who started his career at Lehman.
Similarly, Peter Peterson was chairman and chief executive of Lehman (1973-77) before becoming senior chairman of Blackstone.
Mikulich, before joining Lehman, was with LaSalle National Bank, Chicago, and its parent, ABN Amro, for seven years. Latterly he was involved in property acquisitions and joint ventures on behalf of European pension funds.
On March 4 Lehman Brothers announced the appointment of Christophe Tanghe as managing director responsible for real estate within the firm’s European private equity group.