The Team

Steffen is Managing Partner of ambas Real Estate. He founded the company (formerly known as iMallinvest Europe) back in 2014. Steffen previously worked for the UK based fund manager Henderson Global Investors and for the German open-ended fund management platform Commerz Grundbesitz Investmentgesellschaft.

With more than 21 years of industry experience, he is a genuine retail real estate specialist. Having operated in eight European markets (GER, AUT, UK, SWE, ESP, POR, ITA, HUN) Steffen displays a deep understanding of international investment market mechanics and is familiar with the highest quality standards in institutional decision making.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of the German Council of Shopping Centres (GCSP). As a lecturer at the International Real Estate Business School (IREBS), Steffen regularly contributes to the training and development of industry professionals in the German real estate market.

Klaus is acting as Managing Partner of ambas Real Estate. He joined the company in January 2018 and previously worked for various renowned real estate institutions such as Union Investment Real Estate, SEB Asset Management, Commerz Grundbesitz Investmentgesellschaft and Hochtief.

During 21 years of institutional investment and asset management activity in as many as ten different regions across the globe (GER, AUT, NL, SCAND, ESP, ITA, TUR, SVK, CAN, USA), Klaus gained vast real estate M&A experience, which shaped his excellent deal negotiation skills.

By virtue of his background as a Civil Engineer, who also holds an international MBA, Klaus features extensive technical real estate know-how combined with comprehensive commercial deal understanding.

Kathrin is our Head of Advisory and plays a pivotal role in developing the range of ambas services together with our clients further. She is an internationally experienced asset management expert and skilled negotiator. ambas clients also benefit from Kathrin's specialist knowledge in digital transformation processes in the real estate industry.

Kathrin has been chairing the asset management board of the German Council of Shopping Places (GCSP) since 2020. Prior to joining the ambas team, she was successfully representing the global real estate investment manager Nuveen Real Estate (2012-2021), in her role as Head of Retail. From 2001-2012 Kathrin spent 11 years working at Cushman & Wakefield LLP.

In times of structural industry changes, our Senior Project Director Benjamin brings smart solutions to complex asset management challenges.  He thereby combines deep retail expertise with valuable mixed-use experiences gained earlier in his career.

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Benjamin is also an experienced retail transactions manager with excellent process management skills.

He joined ambas coming from a nationwide student housing developer with an own operator platform. He started his retail real estate career in the expansion team of the McDonald’s Incorporation.

In his role as Project Director, Tobias importantly contributes to our team's holistic asset management approach. He is a financial markets expert, prudent cash flow forecaster and disciplined process manager. 

Tobias joined the ambas team in 2019 coming from the fund management department of KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau). He has a Master degree in International Economics and Public Policy.

Julia is our Marketing & Communication expert in the ambas team. She coordinates our company's marketing activities, contributes to our business development through her creativity and organizes our key client events.

Julia has been with the company since 2015. She possesses valuable industry experience through her previous activities as Team Assistant in the German retail team of Henderson Global Investors (2008-2011) and is fluent in German, English and Spanish.

Beyond doubt our great team assistants are the backbone of our company. In her role as professional allrounder Jennifer Pfannmueller coordinates our team's diary, meeting spaces and business trips, collects signatures and competently manages our day-to-day office administration.

Jen joined our team in 2019 and is fluent in German and English. We are very proud to have her with us!

When it comes to effective organization and communication, our office administrator Patrick Geis convinces with an enormous wealth of experience and great process management skills. Having joined our company in summer 2021, he enriches the ambas team through his diligence and tenacity.

Due to his educational background as a former vicar of a large church, he is not only an expert in the field of administration, process management and communication, but also demonstrates great team building skills.

Our second team assistant Carolin is a true retail expert! She joined ambas in 2018 - at that time coming from a market leading fashion retail company (Peek&Cloppenburg), where she acted for more than a decade as department leader in the field of local store administration for various major P&C stores across the country, e.g. in Main-Taunus-Zentrum (Sulzbach), Loop 5 (Weiterstadt) and the P&C flagship store at their company's headquarter (Düsseldorf).

Benedikt joined ambas in 2020 and contributes important inhouse research as Analyst in our team. By way of independent and thorough market and data analysis, he supports our bottom up research approach and internal benchmarking processes.

Benedikt has a qualification as industrial manager and has rounded off his professional skill-set through a full business & economics study programme at the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz.