Real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has appointed Peter Farnes as a partner in its UK healthcare team, which provides valuation and advisory and transactional services for national and international companies across the health and care sector.

Farnes has worked at commercial real estate company CBRE for 12 years and has experience of portfolio transactions as well as single asset acquisitions and disposals across the healthcare spectrum from care homes to medical.

Tom Robinson, head of healthcare at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Peter is a strategic hire for us whose deep experience and relationships, especially in the care industry, complements the existing strengths of our transactional team. The timing is excellent as we move away from the muted investment volumes of 2023 and focus on the fundamentally strong operator trading performance at hand. Sure enough, we’ve started to see increased activity, with portfolios on the move, a more bullish stance from global specialist investors and private equity coming back. This backdrop is surely the fuel needed for traditional money and new players looking to enter the market.”

Sophia Sham, a partner who has worked at Cushman & Wakefield for seven years, has been promoted to lead the healthcare valuation and advisory team, which provides advice and commercial insight to clients ranging from regional to global players.

Robinson added: “Sophia’s appointment and Peter joining Cushman & Wakefield allows us to align our healthcare markets, and valuation and advisory work, more closely. As a team, we work with the biggest specialist healthcare investors in the world, key funders in the space and some of the foremost healthcare operators and developers, which gives us incredible data and insight to support informed decision-making and drive opportunities for our clients.”