People moves: Sziklas to lead LaSalle’s US separate account business

Gresham House, Oxford Properties, Nikko Asset Management, Polhem Infra, PostNord, Vasakronan, M&G Investments, AIG, EY, Hammerson, Union Investment, LaSalle Investment Management, CBRE GI

LaSalle Investment Management – Stuart Sziklas has been appointed to head the real estate investment manager’s US custom accounts business. Sziklas, who joins next month in Chicago, will lead the team responsible for actively managing a $10bn separate account portfolio of office, retail, multifamily and industrial investments located throughout the US. Sziklas will join the Americas advisory board, as well as the Americas investment committee. Sziklas recently served as senior managing director, portfolio manager at CBRE Global Investors. Prior to that, he was a member of the asset management group of Beacon Capital Partners and a director of property management for Aetna’s corporate real estate group.

M&G Investments – James MacKinnon has been appointed head of Australia real estate. The appointment coincides with the opening of M&G’s first two offices in Australia to establish an on-the-ground presence in “one of the largest asset management markets in the Asia-Pacific region”. MacKinnon, with more than three decades of experience in Australia and Asia-Pacific, will lead M&G real estate’s A$2bn Australia business.

Polhem Infra – Mikael Lundin has been appointed chief executive of Polhem Infra, the investment joint venture set up in April by Swedish national buffer funds AP1, AP3 and AP4 to invest in unlisted Swedish companies with a focus on infrastructure. Lundin will take up the role on 1 October, taking over from Johanna Tesdorpf who has been acting CEO during the formation of the company. Lundin has been a consultant for the past two years, within which period he was interim CFO of PostNord. Previous roles include that of chief executive of the Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool in Oslo and various senior positions within the Fortum Group and Vattenfall. Tesdorpf will continue to work at Polhem Infra for some time after 1 October as support for Lundin and the company.

Vasakronan – Johanna Skogestig has been hired as the new chief executive of Swedish real estate company Vasakronan, which is owned jointly by the country’s four main national pensions buffer funds — AP1, AP2, AP3 and AP4. She will start the new job on 1 November, taking over from Fredrik Wirdenius, who has been at the helm of the firm for 11 years. Wirdenius’ decision to step down was announced in April. Skogestig has worked at Vasakronan since 2015, having responsibility for the company’s analysis and transaction operations. She also sits on the board of Fastighets AB Regio and Cibus. Skogestig has previously been a CIO at Areim and before that, worked in the same role at Sveafastigheter.

Union Investment – Christoph Eichbaum has joined the investment management hospitality team within the manager’s real estate business. He will be responsible for hotel transactions in the DACH region, which currently has 46 hotels worth €3.8bn. Eichbaum previously spent eight years at Ernst & Young Real Estate, most recently as a director.

Hammerson – The UK REIT has appointed James Lenton as CFO and executive director to succeed Timon Drakesmith. Lenton will become an executive director on joining the company on 16 September and will take over the role of CFO with effect from 1 October. He joins Hammerson having recently left global insurer and investment business AIG, which he originally joined in 2013 as deputy CFO for EMEA. In 2014 he was promoted to CFO and board member of AIG’s European Group, a position he held for four years. Prior to AIG, Lenton worked at EY. Drakesmith, who is stepping down as announced in May 2019, will leave the company on 15 November.

Gresham House – Geoff Lambert has been appointed head of compliance. Lambert joins Gresham House from Nikko Asset Management Europe, where he was responsible for leading the compliance team. He previously held compliance roles at Henderson Global Investors and Royal London Asset Management.

Oxford Properties Group – Dean Hopkins has joined the real estate group as global COO to help push tech innovation. Hopkins most recently served as the CEO of Canadian tech hub OneEleven. Prior to that, he spent 12 years leading global transformation programs for information firm Thomson Reuters. As part of a number of organisational changes, Jo McNamara has become managing director, head of Europe and David Matheson has taken on the role of managing director, head of Asia Pacific and will continue to lead investment and development activity in both Europe and Asia Pacific. Eric Plesman and Chad Remis have been appointed executive vice presidents to lead the company’s North American business. In Europe, Henry Shearer has been appointed head of UK to head up office and retail across the region. James Boadle has been appointed head of UK to lead residential and logistics across the region. Abigail Shapiro and Pierre Leocadio will head Germany and France respectively. In Asia Pacific, Alec Harper has been appointed head of Australia.