German insurance group Allianz has named Mauro Montagner as new Chief Executive Officer of its Italian real estate business.

German insurance group Allianz has named Mauro Montagner as new Chief Executive Officer of its Italian real estate business.

Montagner joined Allianz Real Estate Italy on January 2, 2013 heading the Southern European platform based in Milan.

Prior to Allianz Real Estate, he held several senior management positions at Morgan Stanley real estate funds, AEW Europe in London and Baupost Group in the US.

Montagner has longstanding experience both in real estate acquisitions and asset management and knowledge of the European real estate markets, both equity and debt, Allianz said.

His role will be to consolidate the investment activities of the Southern European platform which has around €1.75 bn of assets under management in Italy and Spain. Montagner will mainly focus on screening the market in Southern Europe for direct, indirect and debt investments aligning with the investment strategy of Allianz and managing the existing portfolio. In his function as CEO he becomes a member of the executive committee of Allianz Real Estate.

'The market in Southern Europe especially in Italy is very interesting for us,' said Olivier Piani, CEO of Allianz Real Estate. 'The economic situation at the moment is not yet overcome but offers many opportunities as well - also in Southern Europe - which we would like to embrace. The appointment of Mauro Montagner as CEO of our Italian hub is an important step in expanding our real estate portfolio further.'