Michael McCook joins Trikona Group as senior advisor

New York, Nov 18 (ANI/Business Wire India): Trikona Group, which contributes to the growth of India by creating new asset classes around real estate and infrastructure, announced that Michael B. McCook, former senior investment officer of real estate for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), has joined Trikona Group as one of three senior advisors.

McCook will advise the fund management division of the Trikona Group, having spent over 20 years in senior executive positions within the real estate industry. Most recently, he led the global real estate investments division at CalPERS, the largest U.S. pension fund with assets totaling nearly 190 billion dollars and a real estate portfolio valued at more than 20 billion dollars. McCook directed investment and management teams to oversee the fund's core and specialized equity real estate holdings.

With extensive expertise in fund management, Michael McCook will provide strategic guidance as Trikona invests 10 billion in India over the next decade through its institutional investment platform. McCook also serves on the board of other Trikona Group companies including Apodis Hospitality, one of the largest hospitality platforms in India.

McCook joins Arthur J. Mirante II and Vinode Ramgopal to create a seasoned team of Trikona advisors. Arthur Miranate is currently the head of global client development and former president and CEO at Cushman and Wakefield, the world's largest privately held commercial real estate services firm. Under his leadership, Cushman and Wakefield expanded from regional brokerage company to global real estate firm and saw a revenue increase of 100 million dollars to one billion dollars.

Vinode Ramgopal is current chairman and CEO of the Marco Polo Group and brings significant experience in privatization, having been the former head of global privatization at Lehman Brothers International. His tenure included the successful billion restructuring and sale of Telebras, the telecommunications company of Brazil.

"I am impressed with the Trikona Group's commitment to the development of India. In addition to strong leadership, Trikona has a corporate social responsibility model enabling it to create the partnerships necessary to invest, develop and operate successfully in India," said Michael McCook, Senior Advisor of Trikona Group. "As Trikona scales its fund management division, I look forward to reinforcing the institutional governance and best practices I cultivated at CalPERS and to further shaping Trikona's sustainable growth strategy."

"Having helped build one of the largest pension funds in the world, Michael McCook has long recognized the value of a partnership approach and a strong awareness of the political and social landscape critical to real estate development - the basis of the Trikona Group's model in India," said Aashish Kalra, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Trikona Capital. "Understanding this model and the related complexities, McCook successfully led efforts to expand the CalPERS real estate platform and shift from domestic-focused to international investments. We are delighted to have such a well-respected industry figure join our team."

Michael B. McCook is currently the president of Kenwood Investments, LLC, a California real estate development firm specializing in residential and mixed-use urban infill projects. He has also served as managing director of operations at Institutional Housing Partners (IHP); managing director and chief operating officer of Prudential Home Building Investors; and president and chief operating officer of a real estate equity fund for DevCap International.

ANI