Commerz Real, Barings, UBS-AM, AXA IM-RA, M&G Real Estate, Man Group, Brunel Pension Partnership, Segro, Real IS, Patrizia, Cluttons, Herbert Smith Freehills, Colliers International 

Barings – Robbert-Jan van Baal has been appointed head of real estate acquisition for Benelux and Thorsten Slytå has been named regional head of real estate for Scandinavia. Van Baal, based in the Netherlands, will be responsible for transactions and overall asset and project management of Barings properties and those acquired on behalf of Barings clients. He joins Barings from AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, where he was head of asset management, Netherlands. Based in Stockholm, Slytå joins the firm from M&G Real Estate, where he oversaw transactions and asset performance through active management across M&G’s Nordic region investment portfolio. His responsibilities will include transactions and oversight of the firms’ and Barings’ clients’ properties.

Man Group – The investment firm’s private markets business has appointed Dawn Turner as member of the firm’s community housing advisory committee. Turner is the sixth member of the advisory committee, which was formed in early 2019. Turner is the former chief executive of the £30bn investment management company Brunel Pension Partnership, and prior to that served as chief pensions officer at the Environment Agency Pension Fund. She is currently the independent deputy chair of the Gwent Police Joint Audit Committee and ambassador of industry impact group Pensions for Purpose.

Segro – CIO Phil Redding will leave the company at the end of April 2020 following the transitioning of his responsibilities. Responsibility for capital allocation and portfolio planning will be integrated with a newly formed strategy, investment and innovation function reporting to CFO Soumen Das. Redding joined Segro in 1995 and his most recent roles included business unit director for the London portfolio and CIO since 2011. He has been on the board since 2013.

Real IS – The real estate management firm’s supervisory board has appointed Pamela Hoerr as a member of the company’s board of management. Hoerr is responsible for asset and fund management at Real IS and is the successor to Brigitte Walter who retired in mid-2019. Hoerr joins from Patrizia where she served as managing director for the last three years. Prior to this, she headed up Patrizia’s asset management in Germany. She began her career as a real estate management consultant and appraiser with Ernst & Young real estate. She subsequently switched to Hudson Advisors where she established a new asset management division in Munich with a focus on non-performing and sub-performing loans. She then went on to co-found the company Arminius in Frankfurt.

Vasakronan –  Christian Fredrixon has been appointed by Sweden’s largest real estate company Vasakronan as its new head of real estate investments. The firm, which is owned jointly by national pension buffer funds AP1, AP2, AP3 and AP4, said he is replacing Johanna Skogesti, who moved up to become its chief executive last autumn. Fredrixon joins Vasakronan from Swedish property firm ICA Real Estate where he was head of strategy and investment - a position he has held since 2013. Before that, he was a partner at Munich-based Catella Real Estate. Vasakronan said Fredrixon will become part of its management team, starting work in the new role on 4 May. Separately, Vasakronan announced that its current head of property development in Stockholm, Anna Nyberg, would now take charge of the overall coordination and completion of the firm’s largest project - Sergelhuset. Meanwhile, Jan-Erik Hellman - now regional manager in Uppsala - would take over Nyberg’s role and also take responsibility for the coordination of the company’s project operations in all locations, Vasakronan said.

Cluttons – The property consultant has appointed Robyn Sutcliffe as business development manager from Herbert Smith Freehills where she worked within the business development team supporting the London real estate practice. Gary Innes has also joined the firm as bid manager. Innes has held senior level roles in firms such as Clifford Chance, Thales, American Express, Nortel Networks and Shell, and has extensive bid, sales, project management, commercial and contract negotiation skills.

Colliers International – John Friedrichsen, currently CFO, will step into the newly created global leadership position of COO. In this role, Friedrichsen will provide executive oversight and leadership at the global level for a number of growth initiatives including strengthening the real estate services firm’s occupier services, corporate solutions and capital markets businesses. Christian Mayer, currently serving as senior VP, finance and treasurer, has been appointed CFO. Mayer has more than 20 years of experience in progressive leadership roles with the firm. He began his career with PwC.

UBS Asset Management – The manager’s teal estate and private markets business has promoted Matt Johnson to lead its $30bn US real estate arm and Rod Chu as head of transactions. Matt Lynch, who led the US real estate business and Jack Connelly, the head of US real estate transactions will be leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities. David Kozlicki, who leads the US multi-managers real estate fund investments will succeed Johnson as head of the $17bn multi-managers real estate business in the US. Chu, who joined the firm in 1994, is currently a senior portfolio manager for the real estate income strategy, based in San Francisco.

Commerz Real – Tobias Huzarski has been named the head of the newly-created impact investment division. With this appointment, the asset manager intends to place its focus to a greater degree than in the past on capital investments whose returns are not measured solely in terms of economic success, but also with a view to their positive impact on society and the environment. Huzarski will collaborate closely with Viola Joncic, the new head of sustainability at Commerz Real. 

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