Following a banner first year—including a $44M partnership with Artemis Real Estate Partners to acquire a 16k SF retail condo at 202 Canal St in the heart of Chinatown—Andrew Chung's Innovo Property Group has entered into a JV with Nan Fung Group, one of the largest privately held business conglomerates in Hong Kong. And hired Rockwood dealmaker Mo Beler.

First, the partnership: It's a management company platform, which includes a discretionary fund to provide the general partner equity capital in direct and co-GP investments. The fund’s target investments will include core-plus, value-add and opportunistic acquisitions and developments throughout the New York metropolitan area across all property types.

“We are very excited to be partnering with one of the most well-respected and successful institutions in Asia," Andrew tells Bisnow. "The joint venture combines Nan Fung’s global resources with IPG’s local expertise and will enable us to rapidly expand our operations and capitalize investments." 

A spokesperson for Nan Fung tells us the JV is a perfect way for the company to enter the New York real estate market.

Leading a major hiring spree is seven-year Rockwood Capital VP of New York acquisitions Mo Beler. Mo has been named a principal on the investments team and will focus on sourcing and acquiring new investments, as well as managing the firm’s asset portfolio.

After closely following Andrew's career, Mo says he first met the ex-Carlyle exec in person last May at ICSC in Vegas and that the two had an “almost instant connection.” 

“I’ve been following Andrew’s career for a long time, and he was pretty critical in some of the moves that Carlyle made in New York City," Mo told us. "So when he called late last year, I didn’t quite know what he was calling about, but it piqued my interest. I thought it could have been an opportunity to joint-venture on a deal given the fact that Rockwood is a limited partner fund that typically invests with local operating GPs, such as Innovo.” 

IPG recently signed a lease at 1370 Avenue of the Americas and will be relocating by the end of the month. The firm is actively looking at new investment opportunities and aggressively seeking to expand its team.