Andrew Smith succeeds Backlund as Aberdeen's head of property

Aberdeen Asset Management has announced the appointment of Andrew Smith as the group's new head of property. Smith succeeds Richard Backlund who has decided to step down from full-time executive responsibility by his 60th birthday in September.

Backlund has been responsible for the division for over 10 years and has overseen its expansion via both organic growth and acquisition. Aberdeen is one of the largest European property asset managers with £22.6 bn (EUR 26.6 bn) of assets under management.

Smith's appointment comes at an exciting time, the company said. 'In the wake of the global financial crisis, many institutional investors are reviewing their property exposure with the aim to take advantage of attractive prices. The UK has seen particularly strong inflows as the market has improved. Elsewhere Aberdeen is seeing increased interest in some of its single-country and regional products and is currently planning to launch a third Asia fund of funds pooled vehicle.'

Smith joined Aberdeen in 2002 as head of Investment Strategy, after which he held a number of management positions covering both direct and indirect property, most recently as Chief Investment Officer and head of Fund Management in the property team.

In March, Aberdeen KAG (formerly Degi) also saw the departure of Bärbel Schomberg and Malcolm Morgan 'for personal reasons'. The news of their resignation came hard on the heels of massive write-downs in Degi's Global Business Fund.