James Turner – Managing Director, UK & Europe

James Turner is Managing Director of UK & Europe for The Kinetik Group. James has spent almost 30 years in the property industry, and prior to establishing his own business in 2003, held various senior roles with Westfield (over a successful 10 year career there), culminating in co-establishing their European business in 1998 in London. James has been directly involved with over 2.7m Sqm  of shopping centre assets (worth approximately £8.7 billion (€9.8 billion)), over his career.

James joined the Westfield Group in 1993 and has covered many disciplines including finance, investment, development and leasing and held the responsibility for the management of Westfield’s Australian joint ventures with international investors. In 1999 at the age of 32, James along with Peter Miller, was one of three key Westfield personnel transferred to the UK to spearhead the £6Bn+ assets under management European business, taking responsibility initially for finance, management and leasing. During that time, James took responsibility for both business development and the establishment of the systems and operations for the group.

After leaving Westfield in 2003, James established the Balmain Asset Management Group, a multi-disciplined advisory, management business and operating partner focussed on retail and leisure assets in Central Europe. In 2019 this became Sierra Balmain, a joint venture between James, his 3 partners and the global real estate services business, Sonae Sierra. Sierra Balmain employs 110 people and has been successfully operating in Central Europe for 17 years and has €1.3bn+ assets under management with a wide variety of leading international investors and banks.

James attended Avondale College (Newcastle) completing a Bachelor of Business degree before qualifying as a CPA. Prior to his Westfield career, James worked at Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation in Australia in a senior finance capacity. Over his 30+ year career James has worked in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and executed transactions across Europe, the USA and in Canada.