Five minutes with…  Arvi Luoma

Cain’s CIO talks about the company’s evolution, his own approach to investment and what success looks like

This article was published in our March 2026 magazine

Arvi Luoma, CIO at Cain

How would you describe where the firm is today? And what has changed most since you joined through the Blackbrook merger?

Since its inception just over a decade ago, Cain has grown to a global asset manager with over $14B AUM, spanning a diversified portfolio of real estate assets across Europe and North America, alongside investments in global brands. The past 18 months have been a period of deliberate transformation for the business as we positioned ourselves for the next phase of growth: refining our focus, embedding dedicated expertise across our investment concentrations, and streamlining our platforms to drive efficiencies.

The merger with Blackbrook was part of that evolution. Blackbrook was built around sector specialisation in supply chain real estate, with deep in-house expertise deploying with both income-driven and development-led strategies across Europe. Joining forces with Cain brought complementary investment expertise as well as a highly quality pan-European portfolio with both Core/Core+ and Value-Add approaches.

At the same time the merger of our former real estate credit business with Eldridge Capital Management transitioned Cain into a pure equity investment firm. It built on our long-standing relationship with Eldridge Industries and sharpened Cain’s focus on the areas where we believe we are best positioned for success. Today, Cain has evolved from being primarily a balance sheet investor into a platform that increasingly manages third-party capital from a broad and diverse group of investors, including insurance and pension funds, family offices and sovereign wealth funds. In line with this transition, we have naturally had to take a more institutional approach in how we operate, but without losing the entrepreneurial, value-creation and partnership-based DNA that has always defined how we invest.

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In the end what has changed the most, in my view, is the clarity of focus. Cain has always had unique access to opportunities and the ability to unlock investments that are not widely accessible. Over the past 18 months, that advantage has been sharpened further through a more structured approach to governance, capital allocation and specialisation. 

What does the CIO role mean in practice at Cain?

It’s ultimately about stewardship. Ensuring capital is allocated carefully and consistently, in line with the firm’s long-term objectives and the expectations of our capital partners.

The depth of sector expertise within our investment and asset management teams underpins the firm’s strength and sets us apart in a market where many take a broad brush approach. One of my priorities in this role is to ensure that capability is applied consistently by setting a clear framework for investment judgement, maintaining discipline and underwriting standards and ultimately the assessment of appropriate risk and return.

A key advantage of our heritage that continues to underpin our investment approach today is that we invest our own capital and have a strong balance sheet. This gives us both the flexibility and patience to identify where we believe the most compelling opportunities lie within given sectors and to build a clear strategy around that conviction. The world is constantly evolving, and so we continually reassess where capital it is best placed in our areas of expertise.

This role sits at the intersection of flexibility and discipline, with a platform-wide view across the portfolio and geographies. My objective is to use that perspective to evolve into new areas as markets change, while staying anchored in the expertise we are known for and balancing capital across income, development and longer-term value creation. 

What do you see as the firm’s edge in today’s investment environment?

Many of the opportunities we are able to uncover, come through long-standing relationships and partnerships, proprietary sourcing and a global network that provides early visibility into potential investments. That access has been built over time and is difficult to replicate.

What matters just as much is the ability to navigate complexity and provide certainty of execution – a benefit of our own balance sheet. Cain has a strong track record of working through transactions that require close coordination across investment, development, operational expertise and asset management. In certain sectors, for example hospitality, we are not only owners of the real assets but also investors in the operating platforms and brands behind them. That approach gives us greater visibility and a deeper understanding of assets and industries and helps to inform us where and how we should deploy capital in that sector.

Our capital base, combined with our global origination network and team of sector specialists, positions us well in a market that has become home to some thematically driven real estate behemoths. While we have scale, we are of the size that we can be both diversified and specialised, while providing a strong alignment of interest with capital partners and our balance sheet and access to unique investment opportunities.

In today’s market, selectivity and patience matter. We are able to take a long-term view, staying disciplined and deploying capital selectively where there is conviction around downside protection and long-term value creation.

Cain invests across several specialist verticals. How do you think about portfolio construction at a platform level?

Our approach is not to spread capital across a wide range of sectors for the sake of diversification, but rather to focus on a defined set of investment areas where the firm has deep knowledge and a repeatable ability to execute. Each of those areas is supported by dedicated teams with long experience in their respective markets.

At a platform level, it’s about making sure the different verticals fit together sensibly, ensuring risk is balanced across the business, managing exposure, and a consistent approach that supports resilience and gives capital partners confidence as the platform scales. Maintaining discipline and underwriting standards is paramount, and the fact that we invest our balance sheet reinforces this. When we have conviction in a strategy or sector and see an opportunity to invest at an attractive basis, we are able to lean in quickly and act.

Looking ahead, what does success look like for you as CIO?

For me, success comes down to Cain consistently delivering at the highest level and being recognised for it across global markets, backed by a strong team, strong culture and a best in class reputation as a capital partner, manager, borrower and landlord. This comes down first and foremost to the team, its ability to operate effectively, sound overriding strategy, and deliver compelling investment performance.

In order to achieve this, we must allocate capital carefully and protect the downside while driving attractive risk-adjusted returns through different market conditions for our broad base of capital partners.

While we have ambitious growth objectives, we will remain selective, combining discipline with the judgement and creativity needed to access the most compelling investment opportunities.

If we do those things well, growth in assets under management and the aforementioned reputation follow. My role as CIO is to help ensure Cain stays true to its investment principles as it evolves, and that the firm’s strengths of expertise, access, and execution are applied in a way that holds up over time and aligns with the long-term interests of our partners and stakeholders.