Andrew Smith leaves Aberdeen Property ahead of SWIP tie-up

Andrew Smith has stepped down as global head of property at Aberdeen Asset Management and left the company.

His departure comes ahead of Aberdeen's takeover of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) which will create the second-largest European real estate investor by AUM.

Aberdeen said on Thursday that Smith was leaving 'by mutual consent to pursue opportunities elsewhere in the industry'.

'We are grateful to Andrew for his efforts in running the division over recent years and wish him well for the future,' Aberdeen added.

Smith's departure comes days after Aberdeen announced plans to buy SWIP from Lloyd's Banking Group. Aberdeen said at the time that the acquired business will add £136 bn (€162 bn) worth of assets under management with annualised revenues of £234 mln. The enlarged group will manage £350 bn of equity, fixed income and property assets.

According to PropertyEU's latest Top Investors publication, Aberdeen Asset Management had €21.7 bn of real estate assets under management at end-2012, while SWIP had a property AUM of €10.1 bn. Based on these figures, the combined group would have a property AUM of almost €32 bn, catapulting Aberdeen up PropertyEU's Top Investors ranking from number nine to number two, ahead of the current number two, Credit Suisse Real Estate (€27.8 bn), and some way behind number one, AXA Real Estate (€45 bn).

Smith's role has been split for the time being between Pertti Vanhanen as group head of property, and Russell Chaplin, chief investment officer of Aberdeen's property team. Vanhanen will be responsible for the business side of the property division, whilst Chaplin will continue to focus on the investment side. Vanhanen will join the group management board with Chaplin as his alternate.

Vanhanen was appointed head of fund management, property and member of the property team's executive board in 2011. He had responsibility for the strategic development of Aberdeen’s property products and processes globally. He has been with Aberdeen since 2002.

Chaplin is chief investment officer for Aberdeen's property team and a member of the property team's management board. He is primarily responsible for the investment process and its application throughout the property business along with direct management responsibility for the research and strategy team. Chaplin joined Aberdeen in September 2010 from UBS Global Asset Management where he was global real estate strategist, responsible for delivering strategies and tactics related to global property investment.