Savills Investment Management has appointed Alex Jeffrey, the head of M&G Investments’ Asia business, as its new CEO.
Jeffrey will join the €18.3bn real estate manager in late 2019, taking over from Kiran Patel who has held the interim global CEO role since July last year after the then CEO Justin O’Connor left. Nick Cooper also took over the role of chairman from O’Connor.
At the time, Savills IM said O’Connor, who had been with the firm for about 15 years, will leave and will not be relocating to Asia as was previously announced.
Savills IM said Patel will continue in his role as CIO and will become deputy CEO following Jeffrey’s arrival, adding that Cooper will continue in his role as chairman.
Jeffrey will be based in Singapore.
Prior to heading Asia Pacific for M&G Investments in November 2017, Jeffrey was CEO of M&G Real Estate. Prior to joining M&G Real Estate in July 2012, he was CIO and CEO Europe of MGPA.
Mark Ridley, CEO of Savills PLC, said: “I am delighted to welcome Jeffrey as CEO of Savills IM. His experience will be instrumental in leading a strong management team to deliver our aspirations for the business over the coming years.”
Ridley said the fact he will be based in Singapore is a clear demonstration of the importance Savills attach to its ”future growth potential in the Asia Pacific region, linked to our strong UK and European platform”.
“I would also like to thank Kiran Patel for stepping into the role of acting CEO since mid-2018, and for his and Nick Cooper’s leadership of the business during this period of transition.”
