UK insurer Aviva Investors has expanded its real estate team with five new hires as it seeks to expand its presence in the UK and continental Europe.
Gary Sherwin has been appointed head of UK investment transactions, a new role with the responsibility for sourcing and executing all direct real estate transactions. He joins following 16 years at Land Securities, where he led many high profile deals including the creation of several joint ventures. As head of retail investment, he helped reshape the retail portfolio.
Daniel Lienhard becomes head of investment transactions in Germany, based in Frankfurt. In this new role, he will be responsible for sourcing and executing direct real estate transactions for the business across continental Europe with a focus on Germany. Lienhard has over 16 years’ investment and asset management experience in Germany and other various European real estate markets and joins from Savills Investment Management.
Gaston Brandes has been appointed managing director and head of real estate business development. He has over 16 years’ experience in the financial industry, including 13 years within real estate. He joins from Grosvenor Fund Management where he was head of capital markets. He previously worked as executive director for global real estate products and business development with UBS Global Asset Management.
Helen Rainsford has been hired as senior director of retail development. She has over 25 years’ experience in retail and mixed-use development and joins from Martins Properties, where she was director of development. Previously, she was director of acquisitions at William Morrison Supermarkets, and prior to that was a development executive at Land Securities.
Darren Freed has been appointed retail asset manager. He joins from Hammerson, where he was a retail asset manager. Prior to that he was an associate director for retail asset advisory at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Aviva Investors Real Estate has over £37 bn (€43 bn) of real estate assets managed by teams in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, New York and Singapore.
