Greycoat’s Next Chapter: How Nick Millican Is Building a European Platform from Paris

For over a decade, Nick Millican has been methodically building Greycoat Real Estate into one of London’s most respected property development and investment firms. Under his leadership since 2012, the company has transformed from a consultancy business to an operating partner managing billions in assets, cultivating strategic partnerships with global investment heavyweights, and establishing itself as a leader in sustainable refurbishment. Now, Nick Millican is orchestrating Greycoat’s most significant transformation yet: the establishment of a European platform, with Paris as its continental headquarters.

The move represents more than geographic expansion. It’s a fundamental repositioning of what Greycoat is and who it serves—evolving from a London-focused developer into what Millican envisions as a pan-European real asset investment business. And characteristically, he’s approaching this transformation with the same deliberate, team-first strategy that turned Greycoat into a force in the London market.

Why Paris, Why Now

“We are intending to open an office in France near term in Paris, which is quite a big change,” Millican says with his typical understatement. “It’s obviously different language, different legal system, different ways of doing business.”

Those differences haven’t deterred him. In 2025, Greycoat formally established its Paris office with two senior partners whose credentials and experience signal just how seriously Millican is taking European expansion. This isn’t a tentative experiment or satellite operation—it’s a full-scale platform build designed to replicate and extend the model that’s worked in London.

Paris offers several strategic advantages that align with Greycoat’s core competencies. As a major European capital with aging office stock, significant institutional capital flows, and tightening environmental regulations, the city presents exactly the kind of market conditions where Greycoat’s refurbishment-focused approach thrives. The firm’s expertise in transforming underperforming assets into high-specification, environmentally certified buildings translates directly to continental markets facing similar sustainability pressures.

Moreover, Paris provides access to the broader French market while serving as a logical hub for future European operations. Millican has always emphasized that real estate is “very much a local game” requiring physical presence, market knowledge, and understanding of local regulations. Rather than trying to manage European investments remotely from London, he’s building indigenous capability that can operate effectively across borders.

The Team: Reconstructing a Proven Partnership

Millican’s approach to European expansion reveals his fundamental belief that successful real estate depends on assembling the right team. Rather than simply hiring local expertise, he’s recruited two senior partners who bring complementary skills, proven track records, and—crucially—an existing working relationship.

Arnaud Malbos joined Greycoat as a Senior Real Estate Partner in 2025 to head Greycoat France. He brings 17 years at CDPQ (Canada’s Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec), where he oversaw the European Real Estate investment program, plus nine years at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s office division. His experience spans the full property cycle—investment, asset management, and development management—and includes oversight of numerous major transactions and developments across Europe.

Arnaud’s track record speaks to the scale of projects Greycoat intends to pursue. He led the acquisition and subsequent management of Cohabs, a vertically integrated, asset-heavy co-living platform and leading player across the US and Europe. He oversaw the delivery, management, leasing, and disposal of Cœur Défense (160,000 square meters) and T1&B (95,000 square meters) in La Défense. He managed the acquisition and equity syndication of the DUO towers (100,000 square meters) in Paris, led the acquisition, repositioning, and sale of a 17-asset portfolio from Carlyle, and oversaw the acquisition of a 25% stake in PLP (UK Logistic developer) in 2017, followed by deployment of more than $1 billion in follow-on investment capital.

In September 2025, Millican added Semih Bayar Eren as Directeur Général and Partner for Greycoat France, as well as General Counsel globally. Semih brings over 15 years of international legal, management, and corporate finance expertise, most recently serving as Head of Legal Affairs, Europe at La Caisse (formerly Ivanhoé Cambridge), where he supervised legal affairs for the European real estate portfolio and served on both the Global Legal Executive and European Operating Committees.

The strategic brilliance of these hires isn’t just their individual credentials—it’s that Arnaud and Semih worked together at Ivanhoé Cambridge/La Caisse for nearly five years. Millican isn’t creating a new partnership from scratch; he’s reconstructing a proven team dynamic in a new context. “I am thrilled to be joining Greycoat SAS and to continue collaborating with Arnaud Malbos, with whom I had the pleasure to work with for almost five years,” Semih noted upon his appointment.

This mirrors Millican’s broader philosophy about team-building. When he transformed Greycoat from consultancy to operating partner, he focused on creating what he calls “a diverse team that incorporates a unique field of expertise combining finance, structuring and a core bricks and mortar approach.” The Paris office reflects the same multidisciplinary model: Arnaud brings investment and operational expertise across European markets; Semih brings legal, governance, and ESG leadership plus senior in-house experience managing complex portfolios.

Translating the London Playbook

Greycoat’s success in London has been built on three core capabilities: identifying undervalued assets in prime locations, transforming their environmental and operational performance through refurbishment rather than demolition, and partnering with institutional capital to execute at scale. All three translate to European markets.

“There are two real avenues to business that we are focusing on,” Millican explains. “One is buying a building that is either vacant or will become vacant in the short term and doing what we would call a heavy repositioning there, and the other is buying buildings where there are existing tenants and doing a less intensive scope.”

This approach—what Greycoat has termed capturing the value gap between underinvested older infrastructure and new-generation buildings—works anywhere aging office stock meets modern tenant demands and environmental regulations. The specific market dynamics differ between London and Paris, but the fundamental strategy remains sound.

Millican’s refurbishment philosophy is particularly relevant in European markets facing similar sustainability pressures as the UK. “It’s extremely hard to demolish a building and then use what you’ve taken to then build a new building,” he notes. “It’s not really practical. So the more you can retain, the better the carbon footprint of what you’re doing.” As European cities grapple with ambitious carbon reduction goals and tightening building regulations, Greycoat’s embedded carbon preservation approach positions the firm ahead of regulatory curves.

The joint venture model that’s defined Greycoat’s London operations also extends seamlessly to Europe. The firm’s track record partnering with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Wing Tai, Union Investments, Heitman, Oaktree, and other blue-chip investors provides credibility and access to capital for European deals. Arnaud’s relationships from his CDPQ tenure and Semih’s institutional experience further strengthen Greycoat’s ability to source and structure partnerships on the continent.

Beyond Paris: The Pan-European Vision

While Paris serves as Greycoat’s European headquarters, Millican sees it as the foundation for broader continental presence. “The obvious one’s Germany, just given the scale of the economy,” he says when discussing potential next markets, though he’s characteristically measured about timeline and approach.

This staged expansion reflects lessons learned from Greycoat’s earlier missteps. When the firm explored residential apartment development in London, Millican recruited strong talent and invested resources, only to conclude they couldn’t compete effectively with major housebuilders who had superior scale and cost structures. “This experience taught me the critical importance of thoroughly understanding the competitive landscape before entering a new market segment,” he reflects.

The European expansion applies this wisdom. Rather than rushing into multiple markets simultaneously, Millican is building Paris operations with experienced partners, learning how Greycoat’s model adapts to continental contexts, and positioning for measured growth from a position of strength. It’s the difference between geographic sprawl and strategic platform-building.

A New Identity

As Greycoat establishes its European presence, the firm is simultaneously rethinking its brand positioning and preparing to relaunch its website. The timing isn’t coincidental. The company that Nick Millican joined in 2012—a London consultancy with deep expertise but limited operational scope—no longer accurately describes what Greycoat has become.

Today’s Greycoat is an operating partner with a proven track record of complex urban transformations, a network of institutional capital relationships spanning three continents, and now, an emerging European platform. The evolution from “London property developer” to “pan-European real asset investment business” requires not just new offices and personnel, but a fundamental reimagining of how the firm presents itself and who it aims to serve.

For Millican, who has already transformed Greycoat once, this next chapter may be his most ambitious yet. But if the Paris platform succeeds—and the team he’s assembled suggests it will—Greycoat’s story becomes bigger than London, bigger than the UK, and bigger than any single market. It becomes a case study in how strategic leadership, patient capital, and a disciplined approach to sustainability and refurbishment can build a genuinely pan-European real estate business.

The foundation is laid. Now comes the building.