Navigating Success in Real Estate Investment

Christopher Belton is a seasoned real estate professional with over 17 years of experience in the commercial property sector. Known for his strategic foresight and innovative solutions, Christopher has advised clients on a wide range of real estate matters, including the sale and acquisition of properties, site assemblies, development, asset management, and valuations. Prior to co-founding Grand Canal Capital Partners in June 2024, Christopher spent nearly 12 years in the Investment Department at Lisney Commercial Real Estate, where he most recently served as a Director. During his tenure at Lisney, he advised on more than €1 billion in transactions, over €10 billion in valuations, and provided strategic insights that shaped client decisions.

Christopher has developed deep market knowledge within the Irish real estate sector while maintaining a keen understanding of global trends. His unique blend of technical expertise and a client-centric approach sets him apart, making him a trusted partner in delivering tailored solutions that maximise value and mitigate risks. At Grand Canal Capital Partners, Christopher leverages his deep market knowledge to focus on underwriting real estate opportunities, asset management, and developing bespoke platforms that deliver sustained value.

His approach is defined by innovation, integrity, and a commitment to client success. Christopher believes that understanding each client's unique objectives is key to building lasting partnerships and creating long-term value. Looking ahead, he envisions Grand Canal Capital Partners as a leader in crafting resilient real estate strategies that adapt to changing market dynamics and drive continued success for clients.

He holds an MSc in Real Estate Finance from the University of Aberdeen and a BSc in Real Estate Management from Oxford Brookes University. Christopher is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (MSCSI), and the Investment Property Forum (MIPF).

Jonathan is a co-founding partner of Grand Canal Capital Partners. With over 30 years of experience in real estate starting in Property Management and moving through Asset Management and Fund Management, Jonathan moved to Ireland in 2001 and in that time has advised Irish Investors investing in the UK, EMEA and Eastern Europe real estate markets and over the last 15 years has been primarily involved in providing acquisition and sale advice on the Irish real estate market for a spectrum of Irish and Foreign investors being involved in some of Ireland's most significant real estate investment transactions. His expertise includes sourcing acquisitions, sales and asset management.

Prior to founding Grand Canal Capital Partners, Jonathan worked as an Investment Consultant at QRE and a Director and Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield and HWBC respectively. Jonathan holds a BSc (Hons) in Estate Management from the South Bank University (London) and is a Member of The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Aaron co-founded Grand Canal Capital Partners in 2024 and NNK Real Estate Investment Management in 2013, bringing over 23 years of high-caliber experience in real estate investment. He has been instrumental in acquiring over €200 million in CRE assets and developing SPVs for social and private residential projects in Dublin, where NNK REIM acted as the developer on numerous projects. His comprehensive expertise spans strategic investment formulation, active asset management, and restructuring distressed loan portfolios.

Prior to his current roles, Aaron managed a €2 billion loan portfolio at IBRC NAMA Unit and led a €26 billion property valuation and transfer for Allied Irish Banks at CBRE. At Knight Frank, he focused on UK investments within the Irish European capital markets team. Aaron holds an MSc in Property Investment from the University of Reading and is a qualified financial advisor. He is a member of the Investment Property Forum and the Institute of Bankers, reflecting his commitment to professional excellence and industry leadership.

Dave Murray joined Grand Canal Capital Partners in 2026 as Partner, establishing the firm's hospitality investment and development capability. He brings more than twenty years of experience advising institutional investors, family offices, lenders and operators on hotel investment, development and asset strategy across the Irish market.

Prior to joining Grand Canal Capital Partners, Dave served as Senior Director at CBRE Hotels in Ireland, where he led hotel disposal and acquisition mandates, development advisory, and the negotiation of hotel operational agreements for a range of corporate, private and state-backed clients. Earlier in his career, he established the Christie & Co hotel brokerage function in Dublin, and before that spent three years at Ulster Bank / RBS, where he co-managed the hotel sector debt and asset disposal strategy, culminating in the landmark Project Nadal portfolio transaction. He began his real estate career at CBRE, working across the Hotel Brokerage and Valuation teams in Dublin and London, and was subsequently contracted as Co-Project Leader to Allied Irish Banks to co-manage the valuation and transfer of the bank's property loan book to NAMA.

Across his career, Dave has advised on hotel transactions with an aggregate value in excess of €3 billion, spanning single-asset and portfolio mandates, operator selection processes, asset management and capital structuring assignments across multiple market cycles. Notable transactions include the Tifco Hotel Group portfolio sale, the acquisition of the Staycity Dublin City Centre Hotel for Song Capital, the sale of the five-star Marker Hotel and Conrad Dublin, the Morrison Hotel, the Great Southern Hotel portfolio, the pre-letting of a 236-bedroom hotel on behalf of Ballymore/Oxley, the sale of the Dublin Airport Terminal 2 linked hotel (DFBOT) on behalf of the DAA, and the disposal of the Tifco portfolio, a 20 asset hotel group across Ireland for Goldman Sachs.

At Grand Canal Capital Partners, Dave applies his deep sectoral knowledge — combining asset-level judgement, operational insight and disciplined transaction execution — to identify and realise hospitality investment opportunities for the firm's clients and capital partners.

Dave holds a BComm (Management Information Systems) from University College Dublin and an MSc in Real Estate from Dublin Institute of Technology. He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (MSCSI), and an Accredited Product Advisor with the Institute of Bankers in Ireland (Loans & Regulation).