Madison International Realty, CBRE GI, UBS-AM, Apollo Global Management, McArthurGlen, Bouwinvest, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, PBU, PFA

CBRE Global Investors – Eric Decouvelaere has been appointed to lead the manager’s €15.2bn retail platform in EMEA. Decouvelaere joins from McArthurGlen where he served as COO. Decouvelaere will focus on the portfolio of shopping centres, high street and retail parks across the region. John Mulqueen, previously head of transactions for EMEA, has been promoted to head of offices EMEA. Frans van Toor replaces Mulqueen in a promotion from head of transactions Netherlands to head up the transaction team for EMEA. Van Toor, who joined the company in 2018, will now be responsible for overseeing the EMEA region transaction strategy, including deal sourcing, acquisitions and disposals.

Madison International RealtyMatthias Cordier and Alex Lukesch have both been promoted to managing director. Cordier has been with Madison for nearly 8 years, first in Madison’s New York office and now based in Frankfurt. He has primary responsibility for the sourcing, underwriting and execution of Madison’s equity transactions. Prior to joining Madison in 2011, Cordier spent over four years with the European commercial real estate group of Deutsche Bank. Lukesch has been with Madison for 11 years. He was originally hired in Madison’s New York office in 2008 and transferred to head the Madison London office in 2013. He has primary responsibilities for the sourcing, underwriting and execution of Madison’s equity transactions. Prior to joining Madison in 2008, Lukesch was a portfolio analyst at Lincoln Property Company.

UBS Asset ManagementJoseph Azelby has been hired to succeed Thomas Wels as head of the $100bn Real Estate & Private Markets arm. Wels who has been appointed divisional vice chairman and will continue to act as a senior advisor. Azelby, a former CEO of JP Morgan’s global real assets business, joined Apollo Global Management in May 2017 as a senior partner and head of real assets.

BouwinvestRobert Koot has taken over the European real estate investments of Dutch construction workers pension fund BpfBouw, replacing Cathelijne Martin who left Bouwinest at the end of last month. Koot has been promoted from a portfolio manager to director of European investments at Bouwinvest, the company that manages the real estate investments of BpfBouw, as well as other third-party investors. He was previously head of research at Bouwinvest. Jasper Petit, legal counsel for international investments, will start as portfolio manager of European investments on 1 April. Petit was previously a senior associate at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

PBU – The Danish pension fund has appointed Daniel Hedemann Nielsen as its new head of real estate, taking him away from Denmark’s largest commercial pension fund PFA. Hedemann Nielsen, who took up his new role at the Copenhagen-based pension fund this month, is replacing Ib Jansholt. A spokesman for PBU told IPE Real Assets that Jansholt had successfully built up PBU’s real estate portfolio over more than 15 years, and was now set to continue as a consultant to the pension fund. Hedemann Nielsen most recently worked for PFA in its global real estate department, but previously worked for the German real estate investment company Patrizia in its Nordic office and elsewhere.