has been appointed managing director to lead Heitman’s private equity business in Europe.

The real estate fund manager said Smedley, who will be based in London, joins from Schroder Real Estate Investment Management (REIM), where he headed Continental Europe.

As head of Heitman’s European Private Equity group, Smedley will be responsible for broadening the scope of the firm’s European operations.

Heitman said as part of the transition in the group’s leadership, Gordon Black, who has led Heitman’s private equity investment activities in Europe for the past 17 years, will be focused on certain client private equity portfolios with European and global investment mandates.

Black will continue to be based in London as a member of the European Private Equity group and will also continue to serve on Heitman’s European Private Equity Investment Committee.

Maury Tognarelli, the CEO of Heitman, said: “We are delighted to welcome Tony to Heitman and are looking forward to his considerable talents being applied to our client portfolios and our efforts to broaden our European Private Equity operations.

“Tony has evidenced success in and experience with forming and leading integrated, collaborative real estate investment teams in Europe – all critical characteristics that we desired in a new leader for our European operation.”