UK - The UK real estate team of Arbuthnot Real Estate Investment Management (ArbreIM) has left the company to form a new joint venture business with AEW Europe.

AEW UK will be led by Richard Tanner, former managing director at ArbreIM, and will seek to launch an open-ended core UK property fund in early 2011.

AEW Europe and the management team of what was ArbreIM own the new business equally.

AEW Europe has been active in the UK real estate market through its opportunity funds, but the new partnership will allow it to offer clients core exposure to the UK.

The AEW UK team has worked together since 1994 and been involved in the launch and management of seven funds in the last 15 years, growing assets under management to approximately £3bn (€3.59bn).

This includes UBS's flagship Triton Property fund, which during their tenure became one of the UK's largest real estate funds.

Tanner's senior management team will comprise all of the former ArbreIM team, including Rachel McIsaac, asset management director; Catherine Delplace, operations and product development director; Nick Winsley, investment director; and Dana Eisner, client management and capital raising director.

Rob Wilkinson, head of European fund management at AEW Europe, said: "The opportunity to partner with such an experienced and successful team of like-minded real estate professionals rarely occurs, so we jumped at the chance.

"The team's extensive experience and expertise in the UK market is highly complementary to AEW Europe's existing real estate fund management platform."

Wilkinson said the new partnership represented the next step in the evolution of AEW Europe's business in the strategically important UK market.

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