Atrium appoints chief investment officer

Vienna and Euronext-listed Atrium European Real Estate has announced the appointment of Jörg Banzhaf as chief investment officer. Banzhaf will be responsible for the management and co-ordination of Atrium’s planned investment programme.

With 20 years of experience in the real estate and construction industries, for the last 10 years Mr Banzhaf has concentrated on investing in, developing and managing European shopping centres, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe.

Atrium is one of the leading real estate companies focused on shopping centre investment, management and development in Central and Eastern Europe.

From 2000 to mid-2010, Banzhaf worked for ECE Projektmanagement, a European market leader in the management and development of inner city shopping centres. His latest position was managing director and board member. At ECE, Banzhaf was responsible for shopping mall developments in Germany, as well as managing ongoing activities in Central and Eastern Europe.

Rachel Lavine, CEO of Atrium, said: 'As we have stated previously, the acquisition of shopping centres is a key driver of growth for Atrium. We believe that Jörg's experience in this field and across Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and Czech Republic, will be invaluable to this process. I am therefore delighted to welcome him to the team and look forward to working with him as we continue to build Atrium into the market leading operator and developer of supermarket anchored shopping centres in Central and Eastern Europe.'