People moves: Lee to head UniSuper’s infrastructure, private equity strategy

UniSuper, Downing, River and Mercantile, GARBE, Deka, Macquarie Asset Management, UBS Asset Management, Stoneweg, M&G Investments, Invel, BNP Paribas REIM, Bloom, TCC, Clarion Partners Europe, North Sky Capital, North Sky Capital, Abrdn, Immobel Capital Partners, Schroder Real Estate

UniSuper – The Australian industry fund has divided its property, infrastructure and private equity portfolios under two dedicated senior leaders. Sandra Lee will lead UniSuper’s infrastructure and private equity strategy, and Kent Robbins will continue to lead UniSuper’s property strategy. As head of private markets, Lee heads UniSuper’s A$10bn private markets strategy covering infrastructure and private equity. She has more than 25 years’ experience in infrastructure portfolio and transactional management across the transportation, utilities, timberlands and telecommunications sectors in Australia and globally. Robbins, head of property, leads UniSuper’s property strategy across both direct and listed investments. He brings over 30 years’ experience across the investments and superannuation sector and having led the repositioning and growth in UniSuper’s direct property and infrastructure portfolios over the past decade.

Trammell Crow Company – The global commercial real estate developer and investor has appointed Richard Fell head of European logistics capital markets. Fell joins from Clarion Partners Europe, where he spent the past three years as vice-president for investments. He previously worked in private equity roles for Brydell Partners, Curzon Advisers, and Tristan Capital Partners. In his new role with TCC, Fell is responsible for identifying, structuring and securing debt and equity capital to support the joint-venture activity of TCC’s logistics development business across Europe. He will be based in London and will report directly to CIO Tommy Lee.

Immobel Capital Partners – The London-based investment management business of Immobel Group has appointed Melinda Knatchbull as chief financial and operating officer. Knatchbull will be responsible for the financial, operational and risk aspects of Immobel Capital Partners’s activities. Knatchbull joins from Schroder Real Estate, where she worked for over 10 years, with responsibility for the global operations across the platform. Prior to joining Schroders, Knatchbull was head of fund accounting at Invista REIM.

Downing – The investment manager has appointed Roger Lewis to the newly created role of head of ESG. Lewis previously worked as group head of ESG at River and Mercantile where he was responsible for implementing and overseeing the group’s ESG philosophy and core principles across its investment divisions. Prior to joining River and Mercantile, Lewis worked at Aviva Investors, where his responsibilities included aligning ESG strategy and factors with investment functions across its real assets platform. In his new role, Lewis will lead Downing’s ESG strategy, reporting to James Weaver, chief operating officer. 

Macquarie Asset Management – Melanie Schumann has been appointed as a managing director and senior transactions and funds lawyer, supporting the asset manager’s core-plus real estate business. Schumann joins Macquarie following a decade-long career at UBS Asset Management where she was most recently a senior legal counsel for its real estate and private markets business. Prior to this, she was an associate lawyer in the real estate sector for German and international law firms, including Linklaters and Paul Hastings. At Macquarie, Schumann will be based in Munich. She will manage key legal aspects of acquisitions and divestments, financings, fund and investment structuring and capital raising, as well as regulatory matters. Working as part of a global team, Schumann will also support the business as it delivers new product initiatives. 

North Sky Capital – Erika Gucfa has joined the impact investment firm as managing director. Gucfa will lead North Sky’s business development efforts for both its impact private equity and sustainable infrastructure strategies. She will be based in the firm’s Boston office. Previously, Gucfa was the head of private markets, product strategy and solutions for the Americas, at Abrdn. Prior to that she gained extensive knowledge and experience in business development and investor relations at FLAG Capital Management and Forum Capital Partners.

Garbe – Andrea Agrusow has been appointed to the board of directors of Garbe. Agrusow brings around 20 years of experience in international real estate investment management to the role, previously working as fund manager for Deka, and as CFO of CBRE Global Investors in Germany, among other career positions. Most recently, she served several international hotel groups in COO or CFO roles. She will join the incumbent managing directors Christopher Garbe, Jan Dietrich Hempel and Jan Philipp Daun to push forward with the further development of the company in the areas of finance, digitisation and organisation.

Stoneweg – Yvan Mermod and Rafael Cerezo have been appointed to the newly created roles of CFO and CIO respectively at the Geneva-based real estate investment group. Mermod was previously a partner at KPMG Switzerland, where he oversaw the investment management sector for French-speaking Switzerland. In his new role based in Geneva, Mermod will be responsible for overseeing the Stoneweg’s accounting and financial activities as well as the compliance aspects of the various regulations. Cerezo began his career at Barclays and subsequently worked for more than 15 years at M&G Investments. He was a senior investor and fund manager within M&G’s restructuring and special situations team, most recently as co-head of the business. Cerezo will be based in Madrid and be responsible for the development of the group’s investment strategies, including through new discretionary mandates at Stoneweg. Furthermore, Simona Terranova, Clarence Peter and Yvar Mentha have all been appointed as board directors at Stoneweg. Terranova, was the founder of MT Finance, a Geneva-based company active in regulatory and risk management consulting, was previously director at PWC and subsequently partner at Deloitte. Peter is an established and experienced lawyer and senior partner at Kellerhals Carrard, where he advises numerous national and international companies on commercial and corporate law. Mentha is one of the partners of Bizzozero & Partners, a Swiss and cross-border regulatory consulting firm. Before joining the firm, Mentha worked for more than 20 years, including 15 years in various managerial positions with a major Geneva-based private bank. 

Invel – Niamh Canavan has been appointed as head of investor relations at the independent real estate investment and asset manager. Canavan brings nearly 20 years of experience across capital raising, real estate, financial institutions, alternatives and credit. She spent a significant portion of her career on the deal side working at the investment banks of Bank of America and HSBC and at European credit hedge fund Cheyne Capital. For the past five years, Canavan has worked across capital raising and investor relations for private equity, infrastructure and real estate firms; most recently at BNP Paribas REIM and Hermes Infrastructure. Based in London, Canavan will lead Invel’s IR team and will be responsible for the identification and development of potential new investors, the sourcing of equity for Invel’s various products, including co-mingled funds, co-investments, club deals and individual mandates, and institutionalising investor reporting across all jurisdictions and projects. 

Bloom – Chris Leonard has been appointed as development director at the ultra-urban industrial investor and developer. Previously, Leonard was capital projects manager at Capital Industrial responsible for the redevelopment and refurbishment of industrial properties. Prior to this, he was property development manager at Ocado responsible for acquisition and development of various properties within the UK and Europe. In his new role, Leonard will lead the delivery of Bloom’s development programme with existing projects and pipeline opportunities. He will also be supporting the leadership team, headed by co-founders Tom Davies and Sam McGirr, on setting Bloom’s real estate investment and location strategies.