Crestbridge, Barings, Federated Hermes, Aviva Investors, Knight Frank, Gresham House, abrdn, Morgan Stanley, Cohen & Steers, State Street Global Advisors, Trammell Crow Company, GP Papenburg Hochbau, Verdion, Palace Capital, JLL, Addington Capital, Touchstone
Barings – The investment manager has appointed Séverine Maumy-Laffineur as co-portfolio manager of its European core property fund. Maumy-Laffineur joined Barings in 2015 and is currently managing director and real estate country head for France. She replaces Jorge Duarte, who will leave the firm in December. Maumy-Laffineur will be working alongside James Whittaker, co-portfolio manager of the fund. Previously, Maumy-Laffineur worked with Standard Life Investments as European portfolio manager. Prior to this, she was national director at LaSalle Investment Management and responsible for French acquisitions. She also was a financial analyst at Hammerson in France.
Cohen & Steers – Jeffrey Palma has been appointed senior vice president and head of multi-asset solutions. In a newly created position reporting to Jon Cheigh, CIO, Palma is responsible for leading the firm’s asset allocation teams, strategies and macroeconomic research. Palma joins Cohen & Steers with 25 years of investment experience. Most recently at State Street Global Advisors, he was a managing director and head of public investments for SSGA’s outsourced CIO platform. Prior to that, Palma was the head of tactical asset allocation for GE Pension Trust and chief market strategist at GE Asset Management when it was acquired by SSGA in 2016. Before joining GE in 2012, he was most recently the head of global equity strategy at UBS Investment Bank.
Trammell Crow Company – The global commercial real estate developer and investor, has appointed Robert Dischereit as director of construction and project management in Germany and Austria. Dischereit joins Trammell Crow Company with over 13 years of experience in project planning and coordination. He spent nearly ten years at GP Papenburg Hochbau, a general contractor in Germany, where he focused on project budgeting, coordination of external service providers and partners, contract preparation and negotiation with developers and subcontractors. Prior to this, he was a planner at D & P Planungsgesellschaft in Leipzig, Germany.
Aviva Investors – Ben Sanderson, an executive director of real estate fund management at Federated Hermes is joining Aviva Investors in January next year to lead its real estate business. James Stevens, who has led the real estate business on an interim basis since February, will take up the new role of head of real estate investment, reporting to Sanderson. Stevens took on the interim role following Daniel McHugh’s appointment as real assets chief investment officer. Sanderson joins the business after 13 years at Federated Hermes, where he was most recently responsible for global real estate, UK residential and real estate debt investment programmes, as well as overseeing ESG strategy.
Knight Frank – The global property adviser has promoted Andrew Burt to the role of head of UK building surveying. Burt has been at Knight Frank for eight years and relocated to the firm’s London HQ from Bristol in 2017. Prior to joining Knight Frank, he spent nine years at BNP Paribas Real Estate in its building consultancy team. In his new role, Burt will continue to work closely with Charles Ingram Evans, Knight Frank’s head of project and building consultancy.
Gresham House – The specialist alternative asset manager has appointed Jonathan Walker and Rosie French to its sustainable investment team. They join as sustainable investment managers. Walker has six years’ industry experience and prior to joining Gresham House worked at Morgan Stanley, most recently as a research analyst within the sustainability research team. French also has six years’ experience in the industry and joins from abrdn, where she was an ESG analyst for the European equities team.
Palace Capital – The London-listed UK property investment company has appointed Matthew Simpson as CFO. Simpson has been with the company since 2016. Previously holding the position of head of finance and operations, Simpson was appointed as finance director designate in August. Prior to joining the company, Simpson held various finance roles, including at CIT Group Partners LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
JLL – Paul Brindley has been named head of debt advisory, Asia-Pacific, a newly-created role based in Singapore. He will report to Stuart Crow, CEO Capital Markets, Asia-Pacific, effective January 2022. Brindley will be responsible for sourcing real estate debt advisory opportunities, both through external client relationships and JLL’s existing internal client network. He will also be responsible for building and leading a team of debt-focussed professionals to identify debt advisory opportunities and to structure creative solutions on behalf of clients. Brindley is currently senior managing director and co-head of the Los Angeles office of JLL Capital Markets.
Verdion – The pan-European logistics specialist has appointed Jacob Rasmussen as technical director – Denmark. Based at the firm’s Copenhagen office he is responsible for delivering all Verdion’s projects in the country, including E20 Park Copenhagen and iPark Copenhagen. Previously a director with DS Flexhal and business development manager with Rizzani de Eccher, he has worked across Denmark and Sweden with responsibility for delivering major turnkey production facilities with a focus on energy efficiency and security. Mani Hemmaty joins Verdion as technical director – Sweden. Previously head of operations for Sweden, then Norway, Denmark and Finland, with Logistics Contractor he has extensive experience of delivering major projects for developers, third party logistics providers and occupiers including DSV, DHL, Tata, Lidl and ICA. He will be based at the firm’s Gothenburg office and is responsible for the construction of Verdion’s projects in Sweden, including new speculative development in Rosersberg north of Stockholm.
Crestbridge – Cheryl Bai has been appointed director, head of funds UK. In her new role, Bai will lead the UK funds team and contribute to the evolution and growth of Crestbridge’s UK private equity and real estate fund services proposition. Bai joins Crestbridge from SS&C Technologies Holdings, where she was responsible for leading a large client services team in multiple jurisdictions and servicing an extensive portfolio of private equity clients. Prior to this, she held roles at IQEQ and Augentius.
Addington Capital – Stephen Wilson has been appointed operations director of AddLiving, Addington’s sister residential lettings and management business. Wilson joins AddLiving from Touchstone where he was as associate director. Prior to that he was a portfolio manager at Touchstone. Before joining Touchstone in 2017 Wilson had worked at residential agents Citystyle Living.
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