Our Team

Based in: Miami, United States of America

Josef is Managing Director and Founder of Peninsula Investments Group.

Mr. Preschel has over 16 years of experience in Real Estate.

He has been both an Investor and Developer of residential and mixed-used projects across Latin America and the South Eastern US. While working in Latin America, Josef identified a significant regional housing deficit, which he saw as a great opportunity to create value by investing in the residential development space; therefore, in 2005 he co-founded Peninsula with Mauricio Levitin. At Peninsula, Josef is responsible for managing the Latin American platform. He is a member of the Investment Committee of the different funds of the firm.

Prior to founding Peninsula, Josef managed the day-to-day operations of Rain Forest Adventures for Boston Capital Ventures (“BCV”). Before joining BCV, Josef worked in Venezuela as Manager of New Business Development for Patagon (acquired by Santander Bank in 2000) and as Assistant Brand Manager for Procter & Gamble. Josef earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his industrial Engineering degree from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello of Caracas.

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Mauricio Z"L is Founder of Peninsula Investments Group.

Mr. Levitin was actively involved in Real Estate investment since 1996. Following his passion, he co-founded Peninsula in 2005, an asset management firm focused on Real Estate investments across the Americas. Peninsula’s strategy is based on identifying opportunistic investments in markets that have favorable demographic trends, growing economies, availability of financing and where Peninsula has a strong network of relationships to partner with trusted and experienced local developers.

Prior to Peninsula, Mauricio was a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. for seven years. At McKinsey, he led a wide range of engagements in corporate strategy, business acceleration, turnaround and M&A across many industries including telecom, media, internet, consumer goods, retail, basic material and mining. With McKinsey, Mauricio worked in various markets, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. During his MBA, Mauricio worked at Lehman Brothers in London as a Summer Associate in the Real Estate Investment Banking division. At Lehman, he developed M&A strategies for companies across Europe.

Mr. Levitin also served as Director in several company boards and is a Mentor of Endeavor entrepreneurs. Mauricio earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his BBA from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University.

Based in: Miami, United States of America

Juan Fernando is Managing Director of Peninsula U.S.

Mr. Valdivieso has been actively involved in real estate investing since 2004. Juan Fernando joined Peninsula in 2015 as Managing Director of Alternative Real Estate. At Peninsula, Juan Fernando is responsible for leading the firm’s efforts in the United States and Latin America in student and senior housing, in partnership with specialized developers.

Prior to Peninsula, Juan Fernando founded and led various private equity, consulting and real estate companies, including Abu Dhabi Equity Partners, focused on investments in agribusiness and real estate in emerging markets, Gulf Housing Solutions, focused on staff and workforce housing in the UAE, Dubai Equity Partners, a US-based real estate investment company and Park Street Advisors, a boutique strategy consulting and private equity firm. Prior to that, Juan Fernando was a junior partner with McKinsey & Co. where he worked for 7 years. He worked in 14 different offices in 9 countries, primarily in projects in financial services, telecom & oil, with a special focus on strategy, business building, M&A and post-merger management.

He earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his BA degrees in Economics & Business and International Affairs from Lafayette College. Juan Fernando was awarded the Wall Street Journal Achievement Award in Economics, as one of the top Economics undergraduates in the United States

Based in: Montevideo, Uruguay

Carlos is Managing Director of Peninsula Rentals Uruguay

Mr. Mendive join Peninsula in 2014 to structure a new line of business in the housing sector focusing in acquiring homes for rent and founding Peninsula Rentals Uruguay. He is the Managing Director of Peninsula Rentals Uruguay. Prior Peninsula, between the years 2007 up to 2012, Carlos was the first President of the Agencia Nacional de Vivienda (ANV), where he designed and executed the administration of a portfolio of almost 70,000 homes with mortgage transferred from the Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU). While he was in the Administration, was responsible of different legal initiatives related with the development of the financing sector and investments in housing for mid income homes. Some examples are the Program to Promote Private Investments in mid income homes and Notas de Crédito Hipotecarias that is a financial instrument similar to the cover bonds from several European countries.

Carlos studied at MSc Urban and Regional Planning Studies, London School of Economics, UK and obtained his Major in Economics in Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Argentina.