Chicago, Illinois · +1 (312) 555-0180
About us
Twenty-eight years later the group appraises $31B of assets a year, holds its own paper, and still sends somebody into the building to count. Kestrel Global is independent and privately held.
Most advisory firms will tell you what an asset is worth. Very few will buy it from you at that number.
That difference is the whole design of this business. We began in 1998 appraising inventory for regional lenders, and every subsequent line of business exists because a client asked us to stand behind an opinion we had already given: to lend against it, to guarantee it, or to sell the thing ourselves.
So the group now holds a balance sheet, an auction platform, a licensing portfolio and roughly 600 field examiners — not because any of those is a good business on its own, but because together they mean the appraisal is tested against a real bid within ninety days.
We are deliberately not the largest firm in any of our markets. We are the one that will commit before the process closes.
Figures for the year to March 2025.
How we operate
Every number we publish traces back to something we have sold, counted or walked through. Where the market data does not exist, we say so rather than modelling around the hole.
We guarantee recoveries and hold our own paper. A firm that will not put its balance sheet behind an appraisal is selling an opinion, not a valuation.
Asset value decays on a schedule. A precise answer in ten weeks is usually worth less than a good one in ten days, and we structure the work accordingly.
Appraisal, capital and disposition sit in the same group deliberately. It means the number we give you is the number we would trade on ourselves.
History
Founded in Chicago as an inventory appraisal practice with nine people.
First retail disposition programme; the guaranteed recovery model follows a year later.
Capital Partners established to hold facilities underwritten on our own appraisals.
European headquarters opens in London. Real Estate Advisory launches the same year.
Brands begins acquiring consumer marks out of restructuring.
Asia-Pacific practice founded in Singapore.
34 offices, 1,400 professionals, and $31B of asset value appraised a year.
Where we are
Appraisers travel; the practice does not export well over video. Every region carries its own field teams, and the underwriting committee meets in Chicago every Tuesday regardless of where the collateral sits.
Leadership
Elena Vasquez
Chief Executive Officer
Jonas Park
President, Diligence & Advisory
Rachel Okafor
President, Brands & IP
Marc Fontaine
Head of Real Estate Advisory
Start a conversation
Tell us what the asset base looks like.