EUROPE - AEW Europe has appointed Christian Delaire to replace François Pochard as chief executive officer and develop its real estate investment management business.

Pochard is due to retire later this month and Delaire (pictured, left) will assume his role on 1 June 2009, overseeing the management of €17bn in real estate assets.

He joins AEW Europe from AXA Real Estate Investment Managers where he worked in various roles from 1994 but most recently was global head of fund management.

The firm has also announced the fourth purchase for its European Property Investors Special Opportunities (EPISO) fund: a €800m value-added fund backed mostly by American pension funds.

The fund, which closed to investors in May 2008 and targets discounted properties, purchased a logistics property located in Rugby, UK, from Standard Life for £26.85m (€28.2m).
 
The EPISO fund bought its first logistics property last year in Dartford, Kent.

The 41,722 sqm property in Rugby is let to Pearson Shared Services for another 10 years as their headquarters' distribution unit.

AEW Europe is a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management and currently manages around €30bn real estate assets and securities in Europe, North America and Asia for institutional and private investors.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Poppy Sketchley on + 44 (0)20 7261 4629 or email poppy.sketchley@ipe.com

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