Germany’s Allianz Real Estate has named Thomas Gsaenger as its new head of indirect investments, filling the gap left by Matthew Ryall who left the company earlier this year.

Gsaenger comes to Allianz from insurer HUK Coburg Versicherungsgruppe where he was head of investment management for real estate.

Before that he worked at several companies, including Hannover Leasing, E.ON and Pacific Star Europe.

In his new job, he will have overall responsibility for the global indirect real estate portfolio of Allianz, the firm said, where he will carry on developing the investment strategy for indirect investments.

He will report to Olivier Téran, chief investment officer of Allianz Real Estate.

Téran said indirect investments had added value to Allianz’s property investment portfolio in recent years, providing attractive yields and letting the company invest in new markets and asset classes through risk diversification.

Earlier this year, Allianz Real Estate invested in Dutch housing specialist Vesteda and in 2014 the insurer took a stake in the IPUT Property Fund to gain exposure to Ireland.