RMR Group Hires Peter Welch to Lead International Capital Formation

The RMR Group, an alternative asset management firm with roughly $39 billion in assets under management, has hired Peter Welch as senior vice president and head of international capital formation, Commercial Observer can first report. In his new role, Welch will oversee the expansion of RMR’s brand as well as its global network of institutional investors, and support the firm’s capital formation efforts. 

Welch’s appointment follows the hiring of Mary Smendzuik in July 2025 as a senior vice president and head of capital formation, with Smendzuik focusing on North American capital partners and Welch having a global purview. 

Welch brings more than 35 years of experience to the table across investment, capital formation and capital advisory, and a track record of working with investors in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe. Welch previously held senior real estate-focused roles at various firms, including Goldman Sachs JBWere, Wells Fargo Securities — where he was the Singapore CEO and head of the global institutional client group for Asia Pacific — and most recently Bain Capital Credit, where he served as senior adviser covering investment and capital formation. Throughout the duration of his career he’s lived in Singapore, Hong Kong and, now, Brisbane, Australia. 

Last year, RMR engaged Welch as a consultant to assist with capital raising across the Middle East, Australia and Asia, primarily focused on RMR’s multifamily and credit strategies — something Welch describes as “a positive process, and we had good investor engagement that’s still ongoing.” That consultancy then segued into Welch having conversations with RMR’s team about joining them permanently. 

“I had a good experience and I believe RMR had a good experience, too,” Welch said. “In terms of what attracted me to the role, it was probably three things. One was this is a vertically integrated business — RMR is an operator as well as an asset owner, and that’s very important as they’re two distinctly different things. They’re also an investor in real estate, so they understand the risk and they manage the risk. They have sector-specific expertise and a fairly diverse team across everything they focus on which is important. Then, they have thoughtful leadership at the senior level. So those three things were very important to me as we continue to position the business to global investors.” 

While there’s plenty of choppiness in the global macroeconomic environment at the moment, “the U.S. continues to be a very major, if not the major, real estate market globally, for capital deployment,” Welch said. “Capital flows are increasing into the real estate sector, but also across a variety of subsectors within the market. We’re seeing a high level of interest in multifamily, student accommodation and, to a degree, senior living — but to a lesser degree, the care component and more the living component. 

“Logistics continues to be a point of attraction, although the market is fairly mature now,” he added. “Hospitality, hotels and alternates like marinas and golf courses are starting to come into vogue. Retail, certainly at the convenience end and at the high end, there’s a divergence in the market. And, of course, data centers, which continue to be of interest. They are very large tickets and attracting a lot of capital. Plus, it’s the cross section of real estate and infrastructure, so you have a lot of capital looking at that sector.” 

Capital continues to flow from Asia, the Middle East and, increasingly so, from Australia, from the big pension funds in particular, Welch said. “Those three regions are continuing to look and continuing to develop their platforms and their pipelines, and I think that will continue this year and only increase.”

Those investors are looking for core and core-plus returns, but there’s also plenty of appetite as you go further up the risk curve, Welch said. “There’s a lot of interest in that space, sometimes from the same investors but a different part of the balance sheet, and also from a variety of other investors, both institutional and family office-type capital. So it’s really across the spectrum, and across the investments that we touched on: living, logistics, credit.” 

Welch’s first official day at RMR was Jan. 20, but he’s already off to the races, his number one priority being to continue to build the RMR brand globally along with his team. 

“Equally as important is for me to work with global real estate investors, to understand what they want from U.S. real estate and understand what they want from a partner, then facilitate and work with the team to deliver those solutions — because the best way forward is not only establishing the brand name, but providing solutions to investors,” Welch said. “It goes back to my point about what attracted me to the business: a vertically integrated platform, sector specific experts and thoughtful leadership — all those things play into that. That’s the magic source, and that’s what I’ll be focused on.” 

RMR for its part says Welch’s experience in global capital markets and relationships with investors globally will help it source new capital.  “We remain focused on expanding our private capital AUM and global investor base, and Peter’s extensive background and expertise will be a significant asset to RMR,” Adam Portnoy, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.