Nell leaves Hermes to head up LaSalle's 'real return' business

Philip Nell, a former fund director at Hermes Investment Management, is joining LaSalle Investment Management as head of real return funds in the UK.

Nell will be responsible for £3.5bn (€4bn) off assets and available capital.

LaSalle said his appointment formed part of its plans to expand its activities in liability-matching and inflation-linked assets, and alternative sectors, including residential.

Alan Tripp, the head of UK at LaSalle, said: “Our focus for 2018 is to significantly increase our real return and liability-matching portfolios for our clients.”

In the UK, LaSalle has invested £400m in residential assets, which includes 1,000 completed residential units and another 800 in the development pipeline.

Nell joins from Hermes’ real estate team where he was a fund director. He previously led European retail funds at Aviva Investors.  

Simon Marrison, CEO of Europe at LaSalle, said: “The UK is a major part of our global business and our real return initiative is a part of the business where we see substantial demand from clients and we fully believe in our ability to serve them.”