Industrial Outdoor Ventures has named Nicholas Firth its chief investment officer (CIO) in an appointment designed to accelerate the growth of the firm’s portfolio of assets and access to institutional capital.
The appointment of Firth to this newly created position was made by Tom Barbera, CEO of Industrial Outdoor Ventures.
As CIO Firth will be charged with helping IOV build its portfolio of assets under management (AUM) with a goal of increasing the portfolio to as much as $1 billion within the next two to three years. The current total AUM is $500 million. This will be accomplished, in part, by creating and building regional hubs/offices and the appropriate level of support personnel and scaling the overall acquisitions platform.
Firth said he well recalls the rapid acceleration in acceptance and pursuit of truck terminal assets by institutional investors. He sees great similarities in the potential trajectory for this niche sector to go the same way.
Firth brings nearly 25 years of international institutional investment experience with more than 22 years in the industrial sector to IOV. Most recently, beginning in 2016, he was acquisitions officer & industrial sector specialist – JP Morgan Asset Management. Highlighting his tenure leading the firm’s nationwide industrial strategy, Firth was instrumental in increasing JP Morgan’s industrial exposure including investing almost $5BN over his 6 years at the firm, with almost $2BN in gross deals in 2021 alone.
For nearly 20 years, from 1997 to 2016, Firth held numerous senior management positions at LaSalle Investment Management, working out of the firm’s Chicago, London and Mexico offices. Prior to leaving LaSalle, Firth served as an industrial acquisitions officer covering the eastern half of the U.S. From 2011 to 2016 he completed transactions totaling approximately $900 million. Other experiences included working as part of a small team raising nearly $350 million in equity for two industrial separate accounts.
Firth earned a BSc (Hons) Urban Land Economics (real estate) 1997 – Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, England.
